Redemption for the Future: Shepard's Rebirth
by RainthelingeringSentiment
Summary: When Commander Shepard stepped forward to the Beacon on Eden Prime, he could not have suspected that doing this would give him not only visions of the Reapers…But the Visions of his own darkened future. Can Shepard change the outcomes he has seen or will his foreseen future be Inevitable? AU. Second version of "Mass Effect: Redemption for the Future"
1. Chapter 1

Rain: Hello everyone, Rain here and I'm here to re-introduce my Mass Effect Fic, **_Mass Effect: _****_Redemption for the Future_** and the reason for this re-post was because I had been burned out on my first version and also, there were many things I didn't like about it so I decided to do something about it by changing it. I hope all of you enjoy my fic, the newly named **_Redemption for the Future: Shepard's Rebirth_**

Mario: Here we go!

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**_Genre:_** Action, Adventure, Sci-Fi, Romance and Drama

**_Ratings: _**T-M

**_Pairings: _**Shepard(M)/Tali'Zorah, others are a secret.

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**_Summary:_** When Commander Shepard stepped forward to the Beacon on Eden Prime, he could not have suspected that doing this would give him not only visions of the Reapers…But the Visions of his own darkened future. Can Shepard change the outcomes he has seen or will his foreseen future be Inevitable? AU/Second Play though.

**_Disclaimer: _**Do not own.

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**_Redemption for the Future: Shepard's Rebirth_**

**_Chapter one_**

"The mission is in your hands now Shepard! We're counting on you!" Captain David Anderson roared over the harsh winds of Eden Prime entered the cargo bay as Commander Shepard and his ground team, Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and Solider Richard Jenkins, each of them armed with a pistol, a sniper rifle, an assault rifle and a shotgun, all placed conveniently on their backs, with the exception of their shotguns which were placed on the back of their hips.

While Kaidan and Jenkins were wearing standard onyx Alliance Military armor and helmet, Shepard who wore a specialized onyx Alliance military "N7" armor that had a thin white strip with a bold red inside of it adorned on his right arm and an "N7" medal on the right side of his upper chest along with a helmet that adorned a red strip in the middle and a thick yellow visor, that hid his eyes from the outside world.

"We will complete this mission at all costs, Captain Anderson," Shepard's deep, smooth voice replied, his cold hazel eyes staring at his captain beneath his thick yellow visor.

With a stiff nod from Anderson, the three soldiers leapt out from the cargo bay and landed in a crouching position onto the ground of Eden Prime and as the three slowly stood up, each of their eyes widened in surprise.

Eden Prime was once called a Paradise to the human race, the crowned jewel of its galaxy, one of the most beautiful place in the universe, but what Shepard knew and read about this place before and what he was seeing now were now radically two different things.

The once clear blue skies were now a blood red color, the ground, which once was a luscious color green was now faded and crisp brown with splashes of blood on top of it and as the three men looked upon the horizon, smoke could be seen billowing into the air and the faint screams and gunfire could be heard as well.

"Oh my god…" Shepard's eyes immediately turned to the youngest member of their team with worry hidden in them and he was right to worry. Young Richard L Jenkins had fallen to his knees at the sight of the beloved planet he had grown up from in the state that is was in, with tears threatening to spill from his eyes.

Before his meeting with the Turian Spectre Nihlus Kryik, Shepard had overheard Richard talking to Dr. Karin Chakwas about his times back when he was a colonist on Eden Prime and despite wanting him to leave the planet, he loved it dearly and Shepard could clearly see that the man was in pain and as much as he wanted to care for the man's plight, he couldn't right now.

He had a mission to do and he would accomplish it.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Shepard's head turned just enough so he could see Richard's fallen form and said with an empty voice "Jenkins, I know the destruction of your home world is devastating but we have a mission and we need to get it done….Mourning can wait."

Shepard could see the shock in both Kaidan's and Richard's eyes but as he turned his head away, he heard Richard say in a heated tone "Commander, my home world is burning to the ground. My family, my friends…All of them could be hurting…Even dying and that's all you can say to me? That Mourning can wait?"

"We are down here to retrieve the Beacon. Nothing else matters. Not this planet, not these people, not your tears. This mission is my top priority and it should be yours too." Shepard knew that the man shouldn't hear these words coming from his mouth. Especially when the place Richard had grown up was in flames like this but Shepard knew that the man would continue down this path unless he did something now.

He needed his soldier to be focused for this mission and if angering Richard is what it took to get the man to focus, he would do it. The mission was important but leaving his teammate in this distressed state could lead to the man's death and Shepard didn't want that at all.

"If this is too much for you, I will order you to return to the Normandy and await our return…But if you can stand tall and face the ones who have done this to your world, you will follow my orders right down to the letter…"

Despite his words, Richard continued to stare fiercely into his eyes but he stood firm, his jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed. "Now what is it going to be Jenkins? Will you stay and follow my orders or will you leave?" For a moment, Shepard had a strong feeling that the man would take a swing but after the harsh stare down, Richard lowered his gaze and nodded reluctantly.

Giving a nod to the relieved looking Lieutenant, the ground team swiftly pulled out their pistols and slowly advanced down a steep hill, their nerves steeled and their eyes sharp, looking out at any movement that wasn't their own. Soon, the trio came upon a rocky incline in which Shepard's eyes flashed to the two men by his side before signaling the two to hold their positions behind him.

The two men followed his orders and held their positions while Shepard silently moved forward, keeping his back against the mountain next to him, he reached the end and peaked over the side and saw four pair of recon drones. Pulling his head back, he silently signaled for Kaidan and Richard to get behind the two large mounds of rocks nearby but also signaled to keep low and to keep quiet.

Nodding, the two men crouched down and silently walked down the incline and while Kaidan took the one closest to him, Richard took the one far from both Kaidan and Shepard but as Richard walked forward, forward, his foot had nicked a small mound of rocks, causing them to cascade to ground as well as alerting the recon drones.

Seeing this, Richard immediately dove behind the stone as the drones began to fire at him and had he not dived behind that large stone, there would have been a strong chance he would have been killed immediately.

Seeing their chance, Shepard and Kaidan stood up from their protection and shot at the drones swiftly, causing two of them to explode upon impact of their bullets and the third one to hover wobbly in the air before diving to the ground and exploding on impact. After a tense second to see if more were coming, Shepard lowered his gun and looked at where the drones were while Kaidan went to Richard and asked if he was ok.

"I'm ok Lieutenant," Richard replied, getting on his feet slowly, an uneasy chuckle playing from his lips. "Thanks for asking. Whew, for a moment there, I thought I was going to-"Just then, another drone popped out from behind them and with sharp reflexes, Shepard turned around and shot it with his pistol, causing it to explode on impact.

"You were saying?" Kaidan said with an relieved sigh, causing Richard to let a blush of embarrassment form on his face but then the two grew serious as Shepard's voice reined them under control.

"Do you two hear that?"

Both men looked at their Commander and strained their ears for whatever he was hearing only to achieve success when they hear the sounds of gunfire nearby.

"I hear it too Commander," Kaidan said before looking at Richard, who nodded in agreement.

"Then let's move…Whatever has done all of this, they need to be stopped…" Shepard commanded and together, the three trekked through the small area of trees until they saw someone with white and pink armor running to take cover while firing back at an unseen enemy only to fall to the ground and that's when the three saw a twelve white colored robots and one larger red one walking towards her, guns drawn and ready to fire

"Whoa, there's a marine!" Richard said in shock. "And she's running from…Geth?" Shepard's eyes narrowed when he heard Richard say that word.

Geth.

The Geth hadn't been outside the veil for over two hundred years since their war with the Quarian people. Why would they be here of all places? "That can't be. The Geth haven't been seen outside the veil for over two hundred years," Kaidan whispered with a stunned look.

"Until now…" Shepard's eyes narrowing behind his visor as he put his pistol away and pulled out his shotgun. Like Richard, he had saw the marine taking cover as well before they saw the Geth shooting at the marine.

They had to save her.

She may be the key to the answers that they seek.

"Jenkins, I want you on sniper duty until all threats have been neutralized then wait for my command. Alenko, you're with me. That marine must be saved at all costs," Shepard ordered, giving a small nod to Richard before darting off with Kaidan following behind.

Richard took a deep breath and pulled out his sniper rifle and aimed it at the first Geth that was closest to her and with a "This is for my home!" He took the shot and smirked when the machine fell to its knees and on to the ground, sparks flying from its "eye".

"One down…"

Shepard and Kaidan charged forward until they reached a cover and with a single nod, the two leapt from the large rock and charged forward once more, Shepard's shotgun and Kaidan's Pistol screeching to life as four Geth fell to the ground, oil and sparks flying from their shells as the bullets slammed against them.

Shepard ran forward and slide behind another rock and switched out his shotgun for a pistol and shot at the next to Geth that were heading in their direction before leaping over the rock and tossing a grenade at the closet Geth and after a quick explosion which luckily managed to catch another Geth as well.

He leapt from his spot when the smoke cleared to see one Geth dead, another one crawling and one Geth just getting out of cover so with a small sneer, he ran towards that Geth and jumped up to knee it in its head before wrapping his legs around its head and firing three shots into it, felling it instantly while Jenkins managed to take out the second Geth that was still crawling around without its legs.

Shepard then rolled off of the dead Geth's body as it was falling and landed into a kneeling position and pulled out his assault rifle and shooting up the third Geth's body until it fell in two then with another fast switch, he returned his shotgun into his hand and as the dead Geth slowly split apart to reveal another one aiming, Shepard fired twice, instantly making it crumble to its knees in defeat.

He then switched his shotgun into his sniper rifle and aimed directly at the red Geth's head and fired one clean shot, sending it flying back to the ground as its head practically shattered from the impact.

Switching one last time back into a pistol, Shepard rolled into cover as three Geth appeared, firing at him but Kaidan's biotics flared and with a thrust of his hand, a wave of purple energy flew from his hands and towards the three Geth, sending them off of their feet where he and Shepard threw a grenade at the three just as they were getting up.

After the explosion and a tense moment of silence, Shepard and Kaidan lowered their weapons, panting softly. The battle was over for now but as the two turned around, one of the Geth they had thought they had killed was slowly walking behind them, limping but as it lifted up its weapon, it bullet suddenly found itself slamming into its head, shattering it as well.

Kaidan and Shepard turned around at the sound of the body dropping with surprise in Kaidan's eyes but a calculating look on Shepard's but that's when they heard Jenkins' voice on their intercom, saying _"Sorry for the scare Commander. I got that thing good, didn't I?'_

Instead of responding to the bragging tone in Jenkins' voice, Shepard's head turned to the Marine in the pink and white armor and said "Get down here Jenkins. We have a survivor."

_"Understood Commander."_ Came Richard's reply through the headset.

His calculating eyes then turned to the Marine in the pink and white armor who was now standing before him and Kaidan, her mouth opening to thank them for helping but at the moment, he did not need her thanks. He needed answers so with a small glare beneath his thick yellow visor, Shepard asked the woman "Marine, I have two questions for you. What is your name and rank and what is going on here?"

The woman paused for a moment, a little taken aback from the harsh tone in his voice but she answered "I'm Gunnery Chief Ashley Williams Sir." She gave a quick salute before she lowered her hand and continued "And at the moment, Eden prime is being attacked by the Geth," Shepard didn't acknowledge Richard running up behind him but continued to stare at the woman before him, waiting for her to continue.

"It all happened so fast sir. One moment, everything was normal then the next, hell. It all started when this shadow flew over the area then seconds later, the Geth struck…My whole platoon was wiped out from the sudden ambush…I'm the only one left."

"Gunnery Chief, we are here for the Beacon. Can you lead us to it?" Shepard asked her crisply, ignoring the haunted look the woman had displayed when she told him and his squad about her platoon. Once again, he knew that this wasn't the right thing to do to someone when they were upset but he knew that the more they kept focus, the easier things were for the person.

Ashley looked as if she had gotten punched in her stomach when Shepard didn't even bat an eye about her platoon being wiped out but instead of lashing out like she wanted to, she simply nodded her head, saying "Sure…Just follow me."

Shepard nodded and kept his pistol held tightly in his hand as he, Kaidan and Richard followed him.

* * *

**_The Beacon Location_**

"This is the dig site…Damn it, the beacon was right here!"

Shepard's hidden eyes flashed up to Ashley's form when she spoke, his jaw clenched lightly. "It must've been moved somewhere else…" Richard said with a deep frown on his face.

"I agree but the question is, was it moved by the Geth or was it moved by our side?" Kaidan asked, his arms crossed in thought.

"Hard to say," Ashley answered, falling silent for a moment before adding "Maybe we should head up to the research camp. Perhaps we'll find our answer there."

Shepard nodded in agreement, his eyes still gazing at the spot where the beacon was supposed to be. This wasn't how this mission was supposed to go at all and it was frustrating him even more now that the beacon was missing.

"Do you think there are any survivors there?" Richard asked her, his eyes flashing to hers with a hopeful look shining through them. Ashley saw the hopeful look in his eyes and as much as she felt that she was the sole person alive here, she also held some hope that there were some survivors.

"God I hope so….If there are survivors, they could be hiding in the camps, its located just up this ridge, up the ramps," Ashley answered.

Shepard looked at the three in front of him just as they looked at him and for a moment, he stayed silent but then he gave them a nod, saying "Then let's move out."

With Ashley in the lead, the four man squad walked up the ramps with their weapons drawn up to the research camp but as they walked, Kaidan murmured to his team "it's a good place for an ambush, let's keep our guards up." Richard opened his mouth to say something but then he stopped dead in his tracks, his head tilting to the left.

"Do you guys hear that?" He asked his team.

Everyone stopped and looked at him.

"Hear what?" Kaidan asked, confusion littering his eyes.

"That static sound…" Richard answered.

The group went silent and they were all surprised to hear the faint static sound as well. "Its faint but I can hear it" Ashley said while Shepard gripped his gun tightly.

Something was wrong.

"Let's keep moving," Shepard responded after a moment, his eyes steeled and ready for anything but as he walked forward past Ashley and towards the camp, he saw eleven black spikes going high into the air with…a body impaled upon it.

"Good god, what the hell is that?" Richard asked with a horrified and disgusted tone in his voice, his pistol now raised. Suddenly, one of the spikes began to descend towards the ground until it stopped on the platform, revealing a bald, blackened body with glowing blue electrical wires infused with its body which seemed to lead to its four brightly glowing blue eyes.

Slowly, it leaned off of the platform and placed its feet on the ground, its body hunching forward and its arms slung low. "Oh my god, its still alive!" Kaidan exclaimed harshly as he held his pistol towards it.

"What did the Geth do to them?" Ashley roared with anger as her shotgun was aimed directly at it.

Suddenly, the thing's head turned and saw them and let out a loud, static-y shriek and started to charge forward towards them. The four Marines aimed at it and fired at it repeatedly but each bullet only seemed to slow it down for a moment before it continued forward.

Finally, Richard pulled out his rifle and aimed at its head and fired one shot, effectively stopping it for good. "What the hell did we just stumble upon?" Kaidan asked with a shuddered breath after a moment. Suddenly, the remaining nine spikes began to lower rapidly, revealing the same forms that they had just killed and with a unified shriek, they all charged forward.

"A trap," Shepard responded darkly as he lifted his assault rifle and aimed at the closest one's head, sending it to the ground effortlessly before charging forward to take down two more but when he managed to kill the second one with five bullets to its chest and one to its head, the third one had gotten close enough before hunching forward, its arms holding its body tightly as its wires glowing brightly until electricity cackled violently around its body.

The static like noise coming from its mouth was getting higher and higher while its arms stretched out to its sides and without warning, a large bubble of an electrical wave exploded outwards from its body, knocking Shepard off of his feet as well as overheating all of his weapons but before he could get to his feet, the unholy creation leapt in the air towards Shepard, only to get flung back from a bullet hitting its chest.

Hearing a "Got the bugger commander!" Instantly told Shepard who had made the shot and once he got on his feet, he saw another one of those beings coming towards him, he ran forward and gave it a brutal clothesline with the butt of his assault rifle, sending it slamming to the ground where he pulled out his pistol and shot it point blank into its head, shattering it upon impact.

Ashley and Kaidan swiftly followed suit and started to aim at these beings heads, with Kaidan taking down two more and Ashley taking down three while Richard kept his distance and used his Sniper rifle to take out the remaining one that was getting closer to his location, ending their brief but terrifying scuffle.

"I think that was the last of them," Ashley said to Shepard, her voice distant but it held a slight tremble. Shepard realized that she could have known these…things that used to be human beings but he refused to say anything; instead, his eyes flashed to one the doors in one of the buildings nearby.

The door panel was glowing red instead of green, indicating that it was locked.

"Everyone, there's someone in that shed over there."

The three Marines looked towards Shepard and towards the door and saw the red door panel and then looked towards Shepard. With a single nod, the four of them, with their weapons still drawn, walked over to the panel. With a look towards Kaidan, the Biotic nodded and hacked the security lock, turning the red panel to green with a hiss, the door swiftly slid up, opening the door.

With their guns still drawn, the four of them entered the room to see a young twenty-five year old Caucasian woman with short red hair, black eyes, with a white and blue uniform on standing next to a tall, gangly middle aged Caucasian male with balding brown hair, black eyes and a uniform similar to the woman's.

When the door opened, the woman turned around and let out a surprised gasp, initially terrified before letting out a sigh of relief. "Humans, thank the maker," She said with a small smile on her face.

"Hurry, close the door, before they come back," the man whispered harshly with an almost hysterical tone in his voice said as he stepped forward next to her.

"Don't worry, we'll protect you," Richard said with a wide smile on his face but that smile faded away when he stared at the woman. She seemed very familiar to him but he couldn't place her face anywhere just yet.

The woman seemed to smile more at this but she shook her head, saying "Thank you but we'll be ok now. It looks like everyone's gone."

Ashley's face scrunched up in concentration for a moment before realization dawned on her. "You're Dr. Emily Warren. The one in charge of the excavation" The woman, now known as Emily, gave a short nod, saying "Yes, that's me"

Richard's eyes lit up in surprise when the woman confirmed her identity and suddenly, he stepped forward with a bright smile and said "Hey Emily, do you remember me?" Emily's head tilted to the side for a second before she beamed and wrapped him up in a tight hug.

"Richard! Oh my god, I can't believe it's you!" she exclaimed as he hugged her back, confusing both Ashley and Kaidan but annoying Shepard.

"You know each other?" Ashley asked with amusement in her voice.

Richard and Emily broke away, both with subdued smiles on their faces. "Yes, Richard and I grew up here. We were best friends until he left for the Alliance Military," Emily answered with a nod, her eyes going back to Richard's, who was currently smiling happily down at her. "I'm so glad you're ok. Do you have any news about everyone else?"

"None yet I'm afraid. Everything had happened so fast, I hadn't even had a chance to reach out to anyone else on the planet…So many lives were lost today Rich…I just hope our families are ok."

Richard nodded in agreement and opened his mouth to say something but Shepard's voice cut through the room.

"Gunnery Chief Williams said you were in charge of the excavation. Does that mean you know where the Beacon is currently?"

Emily nodded softly and replied with a small shaky voice "Yes I do. It was moved to the space port this morning. Manuel and I stayed behind to pack up the camp. When the attack came, the Marines held them off long enough for us to hide…They gave their lives to save us…"

Ashley looked on with a small frown, remembering those…things they had encountered, knowing those were the Marines that had tried to stop the Geth. _'They gave their lives to save you…but in the end, we had to take them…'_

"No one is saved," Manuel's voice suddenly exclaimed, his hands clenched together tightly as he eyes closed. "The age of humanity is ended. Soon, only corpses and ruin will remain." Richard slowly turned his head to look at Emily with a look that read "Is this guy serious?" She could only sigh.

"What else can you tell us about the attack?" Kaidan asked Emily while eying Manuel suspiciously….Just in case the man got jumpy.

"It all happened so fast…" Richard placed a comforting hand on Emily's shaking shoulder, causing her to still with a small smile of thanks towards him before continuing with "O-One minute we were gathering our equipment, the next minute, we were hiding while the Geth swarmed over the camp."

"Legions of destroyers, Bringers of Darkness, Heralds of our extinction!" Manuel added causing Kaidan and Shepard to stare at him while Richard continued to comfort his friend.

"We c-could hear it outside…" She continued, despite her colleague's interruption. "Gunfire, screams. I thought it would never end…Then it just got quiet. The two of us just sat here alone, too afraid to move…Too afraid to breath…." She paused and stared into Richard's face. "Until you arrived…"

Rolling his hidden eyes, Shepard tapped his foot loud enough to get her attention and asked "Did any of you see a Turian come here?"

"I saw him!" Manuel whispered in a harsh, delirious voice. "The Prophet, leader of the enemy. He was here before the attack!" Shepard, Richard and Kaidan all traded a look while Ashley looked confused.

What the hell were they talking about?

"But that's impossible," Kaidan said softly to Ashley, who turned to him in confusion. "Nihlus was on the Normandy with us before the attack. He couldn't have been here."

"I'm sorry," Emily broke into the conversation suddenly, making all eyes turn on her. "Manuel is still…Unsettled. We haven't seen your Turian. We've been hiding in here since the attack remember?"

The three men nodded before Shepard asked "Can you tell us anything about the Beacon?"

"It's…Some type of data module from a galaxy wide communications network. Remarkably well preserved. It could be the most scientific discovery of our lifetime. Miraculously new technology, ground breaking medical advances, who knows what secrets could be locked inside?" She explained, her eyes shining up lightly, causing Richard to laugh.

"She's always like this when she finds something new and exciting," Richard explained with a teasing grin.

"Oh? Like you weren't when the Alliance personally selected you to join?" she retorted with a grin, causing him to laugh slightly more but Manuel interrupted with "We had unlocked the heart of evil, We have awakened the beast! We have unleashed…The Darkness…" He ended with a low but terrified whisper.

"Manuel please…This isn't the time," Emily said calmly while Richard's eyebrow rose a little more before he finally asked "What's up with him?"

"Well, Manuel has a brilliant mind but he's always been a bit…Unstable. Genius and madness are two sides of the same coin," She explained but once more, Manuel interrupted with "Is it madness to see the future? Is it madness to see the destruction rushing towards us? Don't you all understand there is no escape, no hope?"

He then stepped forward in front of Shepard with a shake of his head, his eyes lowered towards the ground before looking up at Shepard's face, saying "No…I am not mad, I'm the only sane one left!"

"I gave him an extra dose of his medication after the attack. Hopefully after everything has settled, his meds should kick in and put him to sleep" She said but seeing his mouth about to open again finally clicked on Shepard's nerves.

"I have a way to put him asleep now," Shepard announced just before his fist slammed into Manuel's jaw so hard, Manuel was unconscious and snoring before he hit the ground.

"Oh my god! Why did you do that?" Emily exclaimed with surprise and horror in her voice. "I did it because he could have easily did something rash…And I didn't want to take his life if he did anything rash," Shepard replied calmly.

"I…I suppose you're right." Emily said with a sigh.

"We're done here. Williams, take us to the space port." With a salute, Ashley walked out of the shed first, followed by Kaidan and Shepard but just as Richard was about to leave, He heard Emily call out to him so with a turn of his head, he stared at her with a smile.

"I know, I'll be careful…You always worried too much," Richard said as Emily stepped towards him to give him a brief but strong hug.

"With good reason…Be safe…" She whispered, adding a small little peck to the side of his helmet.

Richard smiled at her and broke away from their short embrace before nodding and running off, leaving her and her sleeping Assistant alone. "Now…Let's get off this planet Manuel."

* * *

**_Outside the Shed_**

Richard ran down the steps of the shed and ran up to his squad just as a loud "bang" was heard all around them. The three shared a look of confusion at this while Shepard grimaced, feeling that bad feeling in his stomach once more.

"Everyone, let's move out!" he ordered before jogging off, causing his team to follow but as they turned the corner and ran on the dirt road, that's when they saw it.

It was a very large, squid shaped black ship with red bolts of lighting shooting up its body as it slowly began to shoot up into the air. "What in the hell is that?" Kaidan asked.

"Whoa…" Richard said dumbly.

"The fuck is that thing?" Ashley asked.

Shepard had no answers for it but he had a feeling that things had just gotten worse.

And Shepard was right.

Once they hit the Space Port, they had found a deceased Nihlus Kryik laying faced up on the ground. His eyes wide open in surprise and his mouth slacked open as well. "I guess that answers our question about Nihlus," Kaidan said with a wry grin, given a salute to the fallen Spectre, along with Richard but Ashley merely sneered at the dead turian before looking away.

Shepard had spared the Turian a look and a nod of respect but something had caught his attention so with his pistol drawn, Shepard shouted "Get out here before I put you down!" the others, suddenly hearing the threatening bark from their leader, drew out their guns too, with Ashley adding the sound of her cocking her shotgun for good measure.

Within seconds, a man walked out from behind the crates with a scared expression and with a sigh from all of them, they lowered their guns slightly, reading for anything else to happen. The man had explained what had happened between Nihlus and another Turian named Saren.

"Saren…" Shepard murmured with a wondering tone in his voice but the man continued, telling the four that he saw Saren heading down to the tram station but just as he finished, a gunshot rang out and the man's head suddenly whipped to the side as blood splattered on Ashley's white armor, causing her to shriek in surprise.

Moment's later, Shepard and Kaidan turned their guns on the Geth that had taken the shot and while the two Marines continued shooting it until there were multiple bullet holes in its body and once it fell to the ground, Kaidan and Shepard turned to Richard and Ashley, who were kneeling next to the fallen man.

"He's gone Commander," Richard said after the three stopped firing, causing Shepard to grunt in annoyance. "As well as out only witness to Saren killing Nihlus…We must move…"

The three nodded at Shepard's command but as Shepard, Richard and Kaidan ran off, Ashley stayed behind to give a small prayer to the dead man before running off after her squad mates.

When she rejoined them, the three males were on the tram, hiding behind the many seats that were there. When she got close to the tram, she was forced to take cover as a bullet whizzed by her helmet, making her swear in surprise while pulling out her shotgun, firing and killing the Geth that had tried to take her out.

"About time you got here," Richard exclaimed with a grin as his pistol screamed into the air, shooting one Geth in the arm, knocking its gun out of its hand and swiftly shot its head, defeating it as Kaidan used his biotics to have them floating in the air so Shepard could shoot them until the two Geth that were floating were nothing more than scrap metal.

Shepard then leapt over the seat, his knees landing on the soft and comfortable cushioning of the chair while he pulled out his assault rifle and with a satisfied grin, he fired at the larger Geth that was barreling through the aisle towards them, making it stumble back with each hit it took until it finally fell to its knees and to the ground in defeat.

"I think that was the last of them," Kaidan said with a pant, his right hand grazing his helmet while his eyes clenched in pain for a moment before he slowly opened his eyes as Richard placed a hand on his shoulder with a small smile, causing the marine to smile in return.

"Thanks" Kaidan said at his friend's wordless comfort.

Ashley looked at the two for a moment with a small smirk written on her face but she didn't say anything. Instead, she turned around and faced Shepard, who was at the tram's console; his hidden eyes narrowed in concentration and said "Do you think there are anymore Geth waiting for us?"

"I wouldn't be surprised, given that every time we go deeper into this place, more and more Geth seem to be around every single corner…" Ashley nodded at this before looking up at the sky, a bitter sigh leaving her lips. "Good…These Geth bastards fucked with the wrong planet…and the wrong team."

That made Shepard smirk even more as the tram began to move forward

Unbeknownst to any of them, thanks to the tram's movement, one of the Geth's that were mercilessly ripped apart from the combination of Kaidan's biotics and Shepard's shotgun single eye began to glow dimly and with a small noise, it began to pull its destroyed upper body up to a shotgun that one of its comrades had left behind.

"It's no problem Kaidan. You're my best friend after all" Richard replied with a smile, unaware that the Geth was trying to lift the shotgun up with its one arm.

"And when did I agree to be that?" Kaidan asked, amusement twinkling in his eyes as they gazed upon his friend, not seeing the Geth slowly aim at Richard's back.

"When you pushed me across the room with your biotics that was pretty fun" Richard gleefully said with a wide grin, not away that the Geth behind him was slowly pulling the trigger but just when it was about to do it, its hand fell limp and its glowing eye slowly lost power until only a faint dim remained.

As the four man squad drew closer to a platform, the saw a single Geth kneeling on the ground, tinkering with something only to lifts its head up to see them approaching…which was soon taken off its shoulders by Shepard with his sniper rifle. Once the tram stopped, the four jogged over to the down Geth and saw that its body was covering something.

Moving its body with his foot, Shepard's eyes narrowed. It was a bomb. Luckily, it was unarmed due to his preemptive strike but he realized that Saren and the Geth were trying to destroy the place. He didn't know why but it didn't matter.

"Everyone! We need to keep moving. They're trying to blow this place up" The three of them looked alarmed but Ashley was the first one to respond.

"Let's kick some asses!"

The four of them quickly trekked into the area with their guns drawn and their eyes open, crushing any opposition that came between them and their mission but as they moved forward, they managed to deactivate three more bombs until finally they were at the beacon where twenty Geth and seven husks surrounded it with a single Geth trying to activate a bomb right in front of the beacon.

"Richard…"

Without a word spoken, Richard pulled out his sniper rifle and kneeled down on one knee, aiming directly at the Geth trying to activate the bomb and with a single shot, the Geth was struck and it fell forward in front of the bomb, catching the attention of the surrounding Geth and Husks, which wailed and charged forward while the Geth armed their weapons and began to fire.

Shepard, Ashley and Kaidan all ducked for cover and fired at the army of Geth and the husks, managing to down five of the Geth as well as two Husks in the barrage and that's when they ducked down to avoid getting hit.

When it sounded as if most of their weapons had overheated, Shepard shot a look at both Kaidan and Ashley before he leapt over the railing and landed on the ground, his assault rifle immediately coming to life as he began spraying rounds of ammunition at his opponent, killing six Geth until it overheated and that's where he then pulled out his shotgun and took one shot, downing a Husk as he simultaneously dove for cover, just as they were beginning to fire.

"Damn, shields are down," He muttered to himself as the bullets slammed against the steel crate that was covering him.

Seeing his Commander in danger, Kaidan pulled out his pistol and leapt over the railing as well, landing into a roll where he shot a Geth point blank in the chest and as it fell, Kaidan took its pistol from his hands and rolled into cover where he then took aim and fired both pistols, killing three of them before tossing one to Shepard, who then rolled out of cover and killed another two Geth and a Husk that had gotten to close.

Not to be outdone, Ashley leapt over the railing as well and landed with a "thump" before running forward to one of the husks and slamming her elbow into it hard before killing two of them with two shotgun blasts and just as the first one was getting back on its feet from behind her.

Richard grinned as he adjusted his aim to the Husk that was trying to sneak up on Ashley until a Geth had entered from the left and tackled him to the ground hard, making Richard lose his breath as well as making him drop his sniper rifle but the Geth lifted it up its hand into the air and attempted to beat the marine to death with it but Richard, using all of his strength, kicked it off of him and rolled to his feet while also pulling out his pistol but when he turned around, the Geth's hands were now at his neck, trying to squeeze the life out of him.

Richard gasped out for air as his vision began to fade, his hand loosening on the pistol he held in his hand as the Geth squeezed his life away but finding the strength inside of him, his trembling hand held onto the pistol tightly and placed it against the Geth and began to fire the pistol repeatedly, making the Geth drop him and stumble back from the shots that had been fired but with a sneer, Richard aimed the pistol up and shot the Geth in its head, shattering its eye and sending it tumbling down the ramp where it remained.

Richard wheezed and coughed violently for air until he saw that Ashley had just killed two Geth and immediately aimed his pistol at the Husk that was now charging to her and fired a shot at its back just as it was going to grab Ashley's head, making it fall forward just as Ashley moved forward, making the dead husk fall to the ground while Ashley ran forward slammed her shotgun at the last Husk's chest hard, sending it to the ground where she then stepped on its chest and fired at its head in point blank range, whispering "Forgive me"

Ashley took deep breaths as she stared at her kill before removing her right boot from its foot while saying, "I think that's all of them" she then huffed and placed her shotgun on the back of her hip after giving it a slight pet before turning her head to the beacon, which was glowing an eerily green, much to her confusion. "The beacon wasn't doing that when we dug it up..." She murmured to herself as Kaidan walked up behind her and touched her shoulder, making her jump slightly.

"Oh, sorry about that," He murmured softly before looking at the beacon with awe in his eyes.

"Whoa, a real Prothean Beacon right in front of our eyes!" Richard exclaimed with shock, suddenly popping up behind the two marines, making them both jump in alarm and draw their weapons and point them at him. "Whoa…Sorry," He exclaimed with surprise and amusement.

Shepard let out a deep breath of relief after making the call to Joker to pick them up along with the beacon, enjoying the feeling of success he had for completing the mission but as he walked towards his team, he noticed that Ashley was eying the beacon.

Suddenly, Shepard watched as her body suddenly jerk forward, accompanied by her shriek of surprise and her panicked expression as she turned back to look at the males of her squad for help which they tried to grab her arms but then this force began to pull her harder to the beacon making her become out of reach of Richard and Kaidan.

Thinking quickly, Shepard rushed forward, swerving past Kaidan and Richard and grabbed her by her arms and flung her to Kaidan and Richard, who caught her successfully but then Shepard found his own body flying backwards and then forcefully turned around by the beacon and just as he got close enough, his body was being lifted up.

Panic filled his veins as he struggled for a moment to break free of the invisible grasp this thing had on him but that's when the sharp visions filled his mind in such rapid succession, he couldn't keep up with even if he tried and to make it worse, each vision that filled his mind made the headache he now worse than ever before until finally, the beacon exploded in front of him, sending him flying backwards to the ground with a crash but before he lost consciousness, he heard a voice enter his mind which said…

_"Let's see how you fair this time…Shepard…"_

* * *

Rain: and with that, my story truly begins again. The reason I wanted to redo the story is because I was reading over it while making a new chapter and decided it needed an update. The reason I left Richard alive is for a few reasons. I always figured he could bring more to the story because of his bright personality plus he could possibly bring out the best in Kaidan since it was stated that they were friends.

Also, I always thought Richard wound up dying because of him being in heartbreak over the fact that his family, his friends, his home was being ravished by the Geth since it was stated that his home was Eden Prime and his mind wasn't in the right place before those drones killed him and with Shepard making him focus, it gave him a different outcome, already making a change to Shepard's universe.

This change was also made to show that while this is essentially a new start to an old story, things can change in a moment but with every positive change, a negative one can happen. What will change with Richard's new life? One way to find out. Now until the next chapter!

Mario: See you next time!


	2. Chapter 2

Rain: Rain here and I want to thank everyone for reading, adding my story to their favorite's list and following my first chapter but the reviews…Are lacking big time. I've never been a review whore or anything like that but I do need to know if you guys like my fic or see what I need to work on with my fic so please, leave a review everyone. Until then, enjoy the show!

Mario: Here we go!

* * *

**_Redemption for the Future: Shepard's Rebirth_**

**_Chapter Two_**

_"Shepard-Commander, you must make a choice."_

_"They changed a scared little girl to an all-powerful bitch."_

_"I. Can. Talk. More. Slowly. Sorry, can't do it. Who are you?"_

Shepard's head began to whip back and forth, sweat dripping down his face.

_"You ok Loco?"_

_"You just say these things!"_

_"I! AM! KROGAN!"_

Shepard's eyes clenched tightly as his hands bunched up the sheets beneath him.

_"I'll hold them back Shepard!"_

_"May you embrace the Goddess."_

_"….That was a joke."_

Shepard's breathing began to quicken as his eyes clenched tighter than before, his fists gripping the sheets tighter.

_"You were warned about the Reapers! Why did you not prepare?!"_

_"Goodbye, Father."_

_"Shepard…Thank you."_

Shepard gasped out as the pain in his head intensified, his fist clenching the sheets so hard, blood began to seep through it.

_"You aren't proposing to me, are you Shepard?"_

_"I was wondering how far you would go to find me."_

_"Hello Shepard, I'm a big fan."_

"S-Stop" He murmured pitifully in his sleep, groaning in pain.

_"Anderson told me to look after you and that's what I'm going to do!"_

_"It feels like years since I just…Sat down."_

_"Shepard! I love you!"_

**_"Serve us!"_**

Shepard's body rose up from the bed with a sharp gasp, his short black hair sticking to his face, covering the small jagged scar that split his left eyebrow down the middle, his hazel eyes small and unfocused, his breathing shallow and quick. Slowly, his closed his right eye as his left one became half lidded, his right hand flying to his head, sweat dripping down his face.

"Doctor Chakwas! He's awake!" His eyes flashed to the form of Ashley's Williams but then his eyes flashed to Chakwas' form, his chest rising slowly and his eyes focusing on her form before he blinked and shook his head, those…Visions still playing in his head. "You had us worried Shepard. How are you feeling?"

He held his head for a moment, searching of an answer until the words practically flew from his mouth.

"Like the day after shore leave."

Shepard then blinked in confusion.

Those weren't the words that he had wanted to say at all but…Why did they seem like the ones he needed to say?

_'What the hell?'_

"How did I get here? What happened? How long was I out of it?" He then asked, the headache subsiding for now, his eyes watching Chakwas move towards him with a worried frown on her face.

"You were out about Fifteen hours. Something happened down there to the Beacon I believe," Chakwas responded while walking over to the Commander and began her check up on the man, who had a small look of annoyance on his face. He really did not like a lot of people in his personal space, even if she was just doing her job.

"It was my fault Commander," Ashley suddenly spoke up, her head lowered in shame. "I must've activated some security field when I touched it. You pushed me out of the way…You saved me…"

Shepard looked at her from the corner of his eyes and asked her "Where's the Beacon now? What happened to it?" before wincing when Chakwas shined a light into his eyes.

"The Beacon exploded." Ashley answered. "A system overload maybe. The blast knocked you out cold. We all thought you would be out for a few days from the way you landed but looks like I was wrong…" She then looked back down to the ground, almost like a puppy who had been hit in the nose with a rolled up paper.

"Williams, Jenkins and Alenko carried you back to the ship," Chakwas interrupted with a small smile, her arms crossed under her breasts. Shepard's eyes gazed upon Ashley's form and gave a nod of gratitude along with a small smile, making her look down at the ground with a faint blush lighting her cheeks.

"Physically, you're fine," Chakwas continued, rolling her eyes lightly. "But while you were resting, I detected some strange brain activity. Abnormal data waves. I also noticed an increase in your rapid eye movement. Science usually associates it with intense dreaming. I also detected that your heart rate had increased to almost scary levels…Shepard…What did you see in your dream?"

Shepard's eyes gazed down at the ground as his headache slowly returned. "I don't know…What I saw…" He answered slowly but then a dark, ominous voice filled his mind. **_"Shepard…"_**

"I-I…Saw…Death…"

**_"Assuming Direct Control…"_**

"Destruction…"

**_"You have been marked by us….You cannot hide Shepard…"_**

"The end of all life…"

**_"Ascension…"_**

"Nothing's really clear though…" He finished lamely while looking at the ground. He didn't know what was going on but it was really starting to worry him. Not that he could let anyone see it of course. He was a grown man and the Commander of the Normandy. He could take care of his himself. He brushed back his hair back and stared at Chakwas, who was staring at him before saying "Don't worry about it, I'll be ok. Maybe a little rest was what I needed."

"Hm, regardless of that Shepard, I may have to add all of this to my report before I hand it to Captain Anderson then study you some mo-" Suddenly, the doors to the med-bay opened and with an air of command, Captain Anderson briskly walked inside of the med-bay with his hands connected behind his back, ignoring Ashley's presence for the time being, immediately asking Chakwas "How's our XO holding out down here?"

"He's doing fine. His readings are normal. I think the Commander will be fine," She answered her Captain with a small smile, causing him to smile as well.

"I'm glad to hear it. Thank you Doctor…Now Shepard…" His eyes flashed to Shepard's sitting down, a concerned look flashing across his eyes for a moment before changing to a cold look. "Can we speak…In private?"

Taking the hint, both Chakwas and Ashley left the room with the latter saying "Aye, Captain. I'll be in the mess hall if you need me," as well as giving him a salute, leaving the two males alone in the med-bay.

"Sounds like that Beacon hit you pretty hard Commander. Are you sure you're alright?"

As Shepard looked at the Captain, a vision of Anderson in a camouflage uniform sitting by his side, bleeding from the left side of his torso, a small gentle smile on his face…

Only, the Captain wasn't breathing.

With a blink of confusion and a glance to his captain, Shepard gave a small, hesitant nod.

"I'm doing ok Captain…A little banged up and disoriented but I will be ok. I just realized that Gunnery Chief Williams is onboard the Normandy sir….Why is that?" Shepard asked with a small look of confusion crossing his face before returning to the aloof look Anderson was used to.

Anderson chuckled at this while he crossed his arms in front of his chest. "I figured we could use a soldier like her so I reassigned her to the Normandy. Is this a problem Shepard?" Shepard shook his head "No". He had seen what the Gunnery Chief could do back on Eden Prime and despite not showing it, he was impressed by her actions. She kept fighting strong, despite losing her entire squad to the Geth.

"Williams is a good solider. She deserves being aligned with the most powerful ship in the Alliance," Shepard told Anderson before he stopped mid-step, his eyes becoming unfocused once more as a hazy vision of Ashley lying wounded in a stream of water appeared before his eyes, her body slumped on a large bomb, her gun firing at oncoming Geth until everything brightened up to almost an agonizingly degree and that's when he hears her voice, steeled in absolution.

_"I understand Commander...I don't regret a thing…"_

But the strange part was that Ashley's form would flicker out into the form of a man that Shepard could barely recognize but as he was trying to figure it out, the sound of his Commanding officer yelling, "Shepard!" caused Shepard's eyes snapped into focus, seeing Anderson's worried gaze looking back at him.

"Are you sure you're ok Commander?" Shepard nodded before shaking his head to get rid of the vision that had invaded his thoughts.

"Sorry Sir, I spaced out. It won't happen again," Shepard lied, trying to shake the lingering image of Ashley and the mysterious man from his head and luckily for him, Anderson nodded, seemingly believing him.

"Like I was telling you before you spaced off, Lieutenant Alenko agrees with you which is why I added her to our crew..." Anderson said with a nod and a small smile which then faded away when Shepard said "Intel really dropped the ball on this one. We had no idea what was to happen down there."

Anderson turned his head to Shepard and told him "The Geth haven't been outside the Veil for two centuries Shepard. No one could have predicted this but I won't lie to you Shepard. Things look bad. With Nihlus dead and the Beacon destroyed and the Geth have appeared outside the veil and are invading, the council is going to want answers..."

"Why should we tell them?" Shepard asked with a small scowl on his face. "Knowing how they operate, They'll obviously think the mission failed due to the Alliance's incompetence instead of the faulty Intel that screwed us over and sent us to hell in back. I didn't do anything wrong," Shepard had never liked dealing with the council.

To him, they were a bunch of stuck people politicians that believed that just because they were in power, they could look down on everyone else, especially if they weren't the same species as them. Shepard believed in treating everyone fairly, even if it meant hating everyone equally.

"I'll stand behind you and your report Shepard. Despite Nihlus' death and the destroyed Beacon, You did good Shepard. You got your team out of there safe and sound as well as saving a few survivors...You're a damned hero in my books. I'm proud of you."

Shepard's eyes turned to his captain and he went to say something but his eyes became unfocused as the image of Anderson sitting next to him returned but unlike before, Anderson was still alive...if only barely.

_"You did good Son, You did good...I'm...Proud of you..."_

Shepard's eyes refocused on his captain and gave him a light smile that quite didn't reach his eyes. "Thank you sir but do we truly need to report to the Council about this?" Anderson nodded softly.

"I know you do not like the Council Shepard but they must know what's happened on Eden Prime, especially if Saren is responsible for all of this."

Shepard let a grunt and leaned back on the bed he was sitting on. "Saren...That's the name of that Turian that man had mentioned before he died. Who is he?" Shepard asked, staring at Anderson for an explanation.

"Saren is a Spectre. One of the best, a living legend but if he is truly working with the Geth, then that means he's gone rouge and a rouge Spectre is more dangerous than anything in the galaxy and what's worse is that he hates humans."

"Why?" Shepard asked.

"He thinks we're growing too fast, taking over the galaxy. A lot of aliens think that way but most don't do anything about it but Saren might be working with the Geth. I don't know how or why but I have a feeling that it was all because of that Beacon...Tell me Shepard, you were there before the Beacon was destroyed. Did you see anything? Anything at all?"

Shepard closed his eyes and thought about the visions that he had seen from the Beacon and then relayed them to the Captain who nodded his head as he listened but Shepard only told him what he had originally seen, not the visions he was currently having about his own crew.

He didn't know why but he knew that he had to keep it a secret for now.

Anderson let a soft sigh leave his lips when Shepard had finished and said "We need to report this to the Council Shepard..."

"And tell them what? I had a nightmare? Do you really think they would believe that?" Shepard asked.

"I don't know but whatever was in that Beacon, Saren took it. I know him Shepard, I know his reputation and his politics. He believes humans are a curse on the galaxy. This attack was an act of war. He has the secrets of the Beacon and an army of Geth under his command and he will not stop until he wipes every last human off the face of the galaxy."

"Then we need to find him and take him down for good," Shepard said with determination in his eyes which would be snuffed out after his captain's next words.

"Its not that easy," Anderson told him. "Saren is a Spectre. He can go anywhere, almost do anything and with that's why we need the council on our side Shepard. I know you don't like it but it's the only way..."

"I know Captain..." Shepard replied faintly, clenching his fists. "I doubt they will help us because if Saren is a legend as you say, then they will try to back him up but it's the only option we have at the moment."

Anderson nodded at this and uncrossed his arms before saying "Good. I will contact Ambassador Udina to see if we can get an Audience with the Council. He'll probably want to meet with us the moment we land. We should be getting close. Head to the bride and tell Joker to get ready to bring us into dock."

Shepard nodded and with a salute, Anderson left and a few minutes later. Shepard did as well to do what he was ordered but as he left the med-lab and headed to the bridge, another vision forced itself upon Shepard but this time, there was nothing more but empty space around him and heat building up around him. Shepard began to panic.

_'W-What's going on! Why am I in so much pain?!'_ He yelled inside of his head as his eyes gazed upon a wrecked ship floating away into the distance while the heat around him began to get worse and worse until fire seemed to fill his veins.

The pain was so intense that Shepard let out a blood curdling scream filled with agony until he fell on the floor beneath him and found himself looking up at the concerned faces of Ashley, Kaidan and Richard.

Just before he lost consciousness

* * *

_**Dream**_

_'Where...Where am I?'_

_Shepard thought to himself as he slowly stood up shakily upon his feet, his armor feeling more heavier than usual on his body but that wasn't the only thing he had noticed. _

_He noticed that the world around him looked as if things had gone to hell. There was fire raining from the skies, countless dead bodies around him, all wearing the armor of the Alliance, small hot cartridges around of their weapons which confused him due to the fact he had never seen them before in his life but when he heard a noise behind him, he turned around and saw several large red eyes gazing down at him, each one glowing menacingly down at him._

**_"You cannot resist us..."_**_ Shepard took a step backwards with a hint of fear flowing through his veins from the intense hatred he was feeling not only from this thing but towards this thing as well. In fact, he held so much anger towards this thing, he scared himself from it._

**_"You cannot defeat us...Shepard…"_**

_This...thing knew his name? But how? Before Shepard could come up with a logical explanation, the eyes began to glow brighter than before, causing him to cover his eyes from the intense light but as it grew brighter, he could hear the voice say one more thing before everything went red._

**_"You will serve us Shepard...It is inevitable…"_**

* * *

**_Dream End_**

With a gasp, Shepard rose up from his laying position in the medical bay and slowly laid back down, his hair sticking to his face due to the sweat that caked it. _'What is going on with me?'_ He asked himself inwardly as his right hand touched his face.

_What the hell is happening to me...?'_ Shepard thought to himself with a heavy sigh that was filled with both annoyance and worry for his well-being. He couldn't figure out what was going on with him but he will figure it out...He swore it on everything in his life.

With that vow in his head, Shepard slide from under the covers and found himself in a pair standard issue alliance uniform slacks as well as a black skin tight shirt with his "N7" emblem stitched on the upper left side of his chest instead of his armor.

He didn't know who had changed him from his armor to these clothes but he was rather grateful for not waking up to armor weighing his body down.

So with that pleasant thought, Shepard slide out of the bed and walked out of the medical bay and headed towards the mess hall and saw Ashley, Kaidan and Richard eating a meal but that suddenly stopped when they saw Shepard standing there, all of them stood up and gave a swift salute before Kaidan stepped up and asked "Are you alright Commander?"

"I will be fine," Shepard responded with a slight cold tone, hoping the issue of his sudden collapse would drop immediately but Ashley merely shook her head and responded with "With all due respect Commander but I call bullshit on that. You dropped on the way towards the bridge while screaming bloody murder. That doesn't seem 'just fine' to me."

Richard had looked at both Ashley and Kaidan then towards the Commander and nodded in agreement with Ashley, adding "Yeah sir, you looked as if you were dying when we found you. I don't know about the rest of you, but I'd like for that to not happen again."

Shepard stared at the three for a moment with an emotionless mask on his face and responded with "I will be fine," Before turning to an officer that needed Shepard's opinion on some trivial matter.

While Kaidan and Richard looked at each other and shrugged, figuring that if Shepard wanted to talk about what had happened to them, he would, Ashley remained watching his standing form with a curious expression. During the time Shepard had blacked out at Eden Prime and Ashley was recruited into the Normandy, The Gunnery Chief needed to know more about the man that had saved her.

Now, she knew who he was, everyone did.

His name was Commander Raphael "Azrael" Shepard and he was known simultaneously as "The Hero of the Skyllian Blitz" and the "Butcher of Torfan". The first moniker he was known under was due to the Commander participated in the Skyllian Blitz. The Commander rallied the colonists against the invaders, and when enemy forces broke through the colony's defenses, Shepard single-handedly held them off and sealed the breach. The Commander is rewarded with the Star of Terra and widely regarded throughout the Alliance as a true hero.

But then Torfan happened….

They didn't know the extent of his anger at the Batarians until he managed forced himself to be in the attack on Torfan in revenge for the "Skyllian Blitz." It was said that Shepard pursued the batarians and wiped all of them out, even those who surrendered and to make matters worse, it was at the cost of many lives in the Commander's own unit. This earned Shepard the epithet "Butcher of Torfan".

He was no longer the hero they thought he was. He was seen as a soulless warrior that would do anything to get the job done but Ashley didn't believe that. His actions on Eden Prime showed that despite him being about the book, he wouldn't hesitate to help his team.

He did save her after all.

But she wasn't interested in knowing the Commander, the "Hero" and the "Butcher", She was curious about the man behind those names but it seemed that for now, her curiosity about the man who saved her would have to wait…But she hoped she would get the chance to know him.

"We're approaching the mass relay heading towards Citadel Space. ETA, five minutes so everyone, please place your trays in the upright position, buckle those seatbelts and brace for instant travel. If not, please puke in the bathroom. I don't want to smell that from up here." Joker's voice rang out over the intercom.

Shepard had closed his eyes to keep himself from rolling them due to Joker's words but Richard and Ashley chuckled at them before Richard suggested traveling towards the bridge to get a firsthand look of the Citadel when they arrived. Kaidan and Ashley agreed and soon, the three had left to meet Joker but Shepard had stayed behind.

He didn't know how or why but he felt that something was going to happen on the Citadel and that's when a brief vision of three shadows standing side by side. One shadow obviously shaped as a krogan, the second a turian and the third one of a Quarian but without realizing it, Shepard was doing something he hadn't done in years when these shadows appeared...

Smile.

* * *

**_The Citadel _**

"Well that turned out well…." Ashley murmured in annoyance as she, Richard and Kaidan followed their silent commander down the steps of the Presidium, the three marines' faces looking a little glum while Shepard's jaw was clenched and his hands balled into a tight fist.

"I know Ash, it's like they thought this was some joke. It isn't right," Richard added with a sigh while Kaidan, who was closer to the Commander, looked at his commanding officer with an inward sighed. It didn't take a genius to figure out that Shepard was furious from the meeting with the council.

The council had completely disregarded their story despite the four of them seeing and hearing what had happened first hand on Eden prime and not only that, the mocking tone in Saren's voice whenever he spoke had nearly made Shepard lose control.

"It was like they were protecting that asshole," Ashley murmured angrily while punching into her open palm.

Not that anyone could blame him.

"Maybe if that dock worker on Eden prime had survived, that would have made our case against Saren a little stronger…" Kaidan commented with his left arm propped on his right, his left fist resting on his chin in thought.

"Not really," Shepard responded almost immediately, stopping in his tracks, making his squad do the same. "Even if he lived, I'm sure the council would've disregarded his statements as well. Let's face it, Saren is their top Spectre and has his own race on the citadel...Who's backing him up and until we find some hard evidence of Saren's involvement with that damn massacre on Prime, He could no doubt walk away and continue his plans…"

"Well, ain't that a kick in the balls," Ashley commented with a wry smirk on her face, her hands planted on her hips before asking "Well, what do we do now?" before anyone could answer that, they were joined by Udina and Anderson, both wearing a scowl on their face.

"It was a mistake bringing you into that hearing Captain. You two have too much history. It made the council question our motives," Udina spoke with barely hidden contempt, his arms crossed in front of his chest, not noticing the squad's surprised look.

They had heard Saren comment to Anderson during the meeting but they hadn't known the two knew each other personally.

"I know Saren," Anderson responded defensively with a pensive look on his face. "He's working with the Geth for one reason, to exterminate the human race. Every colony is at risk. Every world we control is in danger, even earth isn't safe," he said with fire in his voice.

"Permission to speak freely, Sir?" Kaidan asked with a quick salute to Anderson, who nodded in return. "How is it that you know Saren?"

Anderson sighed at Kaidan's question and merely responded with "I worked with him on a mission a long time ago. Things went bad...Real bad..." Shepard, who was listening in silence, knew there was more to this story but it wasn't his concern at the moment.

All he needed was to find a way to stop that traitorous Turian before he managed to succeed in his twisted plot but a hazy vision that was buried in his mind had forced itself forward and what he saw had surprised him immensely.

What he saw was Saren but at the same time it wasn't.

It had his features but it only showed his exoskeleton which were robotic in nature, his eyes were a thick, glowing red and an eerie red mist that was also glowing was flowing from this...abomination's body but as quick as it was there, it was gone, which made Shepard blink in surprise.

_"What the hell was that image?"_ He thought to himself with confusion only for Anderson to momentarily take his mind off of that sudden vision to say to all those around him "But I know that he's dangerous...And that he needs to be stopped before it's too late."

"Well isn't this lovely..." Ashley muttered with annoyance before speaking up with "Well, what do we do now?"

"Due to his Spectre status, Saren's pretty much untouchable right now. We need to find a way a way to expose him but how? That is the issue we are all facing." Suddenly, Shepard's head had snapped up with an idea in his head.

"What about that C-sec officer? Garrus Valkerian I believe. I briefly remember when we were coming here that he was talking to the Executor about his case on Saren. He may have been close to finding something out about him." Briefly was right.

When his squad had seen the C-sec investigator, Shepard had received a vision of the two on an unspecified location but it seemed they were on a roof of some kind, both of them throwing bottles into the air then shooting them. He didn't understand the significance of it but it had made him feel...happy to see this Turian who he's honestly never seen before.

And like these messed up visions, he didn't know why he was feeling this way and it was slowly start to get to him.

"Hm...Then he's our best bet right now but how can we find him?" Richard asked with a scratch of his head.

"I believe I know just the source," Udina replied with an all knowing smirk on his old, worn face.

Anderson must have known who the Councilor was referring to because he let out an annoyed grunt and said "You mean Harkin, don't you? Don't bother; he's a sorry excuse of a C-sec officer who got caught drinking on the job. I wouldn't waste my time on that loser."

"That's good because I don't need you for this," Udina replied with a turn to the captain's direction, causing Shepard and his team to frown at this.

"Don't take this personally Captain Anderson but I don't need the Council to use your past history with Saren as an excuse to ignore any information we could wind finding. Shepard and his team will handle this."

"Hey hold on, this is the Captain's case just as much as ours," Kaidan said, stepping forward towards Udina with a frown on his face.

"Yeah, you have no right to just cut him out of this case," Richard added while Ashley merely turned her head towards Udina's direction with a piercing look and despite Shepard's thick yellow visor hiding his eyes, Udina knew Shepard was glaring as well which seemed to make Udina step back in slight panic.

Anderson let a small smile appear on his face with a small hint of pride in his team's loyalty to him but he raised both of his hands in surrender, saying "Back down team. He's right. I need to step aside…" With that being said, the four marines nodded with Kaidan and Richard falling back in line behind Shepard and next to Ashley.

"Thank you for calling your hounds back Captain," Udina said with a faint quiver in his voice, completely unaware that the marines grew angrier at the fact he called them "Hounds" but the man merely cleared his throat and continued on with "Harkin's probably getting drunk at Chora's den, a dinky, dingy little club located down in the lower parts of the wards. Just be careful, I wouldn't call him reliable."

"Five credit chits that he's some sleaze ball," Ashley whispered to Kaidan and Richard, causing the two men to chuckle before stopping at the slight turn of Shepard's head.

"Good. Now you four best be on it. I and Anderson have some business to discuss in my office, Come by when you find something." And with that, the two walked off, leaving the four man squad alone.

"Well team...We have our mission. Let's get to it," Shepard said after a moment of silence, causing the team to reply with a nod.

* * *

**_Chora's Den_**

If anyone were to ask Shepard, The atmosphere of Chora's den was disgusting to him.

The place was dark with multicolored lights shining all over the place with fog covering the ground, the smell of the place reeked with cigar smoke and there were stripper poles in many areas of the place with the mix of human women and Asari, wearing some spandex that left nothing to imagination dancing around them or some just dancing on bare tables.

"Wow...I don't know whether this is funny or just plain sad," Ashley exclaimed quietly to her two fellow marines.

"Hm? what'cha talking about Ash?" Richard asked while Kaidan raised his eyebrow in curiosity.

"Well, we're millions of light years away from earth, standing in the most "prestigious" place in the known universe and here we are, standing in a strip club, watching strippers shaking their asses in front of their male clients...And here I thought we had evolved."

Shepard had to smirk at Ashley's words but didn't respond to them. Instead, his eyes spotted a familiar hulking red armored Krogan coming near them and that's when a whisper of a name floated into his head.

_"Wrex..." _

"Get out of my way humans; I have no quarrel with you," The krogan told them with his voice low and heavy voice, walking past them without sparing them a glance.

"What was that about?" Richard asked.

"Who knows" Kaidan responded. "All I know is that he didn't sound too happy"

"Does any Krogan?" Ashley asked in jest.

Hearing her words, Kaidan simply grinned at this and said in a humoring tone "Well, it depends if you can tell the right jokes. I hear they love Turian and Salarian ones most of all."

As Shepard listened to his team's little banter, he found himself smiling a little, liking the interaction his team was having with each other but he had to cut it short by saying "Now, we're burning time here team, let's find this Harkin so we can continue on with this mission. " The three marines nodded and split up to find the man. Lucky for Shepard, he managed to find Harkin, who immediately began talking when he got closer to the table.

"Alliance military huh? I could'a been a military man myself but instead I decided to join C-sec. shittiest mistake I ever made."

"I take it you're Harkin," Shepard responded with a dry tone.

Harkin merely grinned at this and offered the seat across the table to him but Shepard continued to stand and stare at the balding man. Finally, Harkin responded with "That's my name. What do you want Marine?"

"I'm looking for a C-sec officer named Garrus Valkerian and I heard you might know where he is," Shepard explained to the man, who began to laugh boisterously.

"Garrus huh? That means you must be one of Anderson's boys. Poor bastard still trying to bring Saren down, eh?"

"Look, do you know where Valkerian is or not?" Shepard asked with a hint of annoyance in his voice. He didn't know how Harkin knew the good Captain but he really didn't care. All he wanted to know where his target was.

"Yeah, I know where he is," Harkin replied but then he smirked "But answer me this, did the Captain let you in on his dirty little secret?"

Shepard merely stared a bit more before saying "I really don't see what Anderson has to do with this and let's be honest, I don't even care so give me Valkarien's location..." Shepard said with aggression shining in his voice, preparing himself to take action if Harkin didn't supply him with the information.

"Oh but it's all related don't you see? The famous Captain Anderson used to-" Before Harkin could continue, a he found a gun inches away from his face.

"Enough...Give me Valkarien's location or you can tell your little tale to the wall with your blood," Shepard said dangerously, cocking his gun for extra incentive. Normally, he wouldn't resort to tactics like this at all but this man, this place and the visions he had been getting since he woke up had been witling down any patience he had for the man.

He was lucky Harkin was located at the back of the club in the darkest corner. Otherwise, the bouncers could have seen him and kicked him out before he got the Intel which would have been bad for everyone involved. "A-alright! I'll tell you!" Harkin squeezed out in fear.

"Good answer. Now where is he?" Shepard demanded with his eyes narrowed.

"L-Last I heard, Garrus was seen snooping around Doctor Michelle's office. She runs the med clinic up in the wards." Shepard nodded and quickly returned his gun to its rightful place before a wry grin formed on his face.

"Thank you for the information Harkin...Have a nice day," With that, Shepard quickly walked away from the sleazy officer and left the club, his squad mates quickly following him when they saw him leave.

"So I'm guessing you found Harkin?" Ashley asked after catching up with Shepard.

"Yeah" Shepard replied before a very faint grin appeared on his face when he remembered what Ashley had said earlier. "The guy was a real sleaze ball."

Ashley merely smirked.

"Well someone better pick the phone because I freaking called it"

* * *

**_Doctor's Office_**

"You know something Commander…I'm starting to think going into these hostile environments will become something of an occurrence with us."

Shepard couldn't help but let a smirk appear on his face from Richard's words as he slide against the wall in the red light covered alleyway, barely avoiding a stray bullet that was aimed at his head.

A few minutes ago, The four man squad had descended down the wards to Doctor Michelle's office where they had found her being held Hostage by a group of men in a standoff with the very turian they had been looking for.

The moment Shepard drew his gun and killed the man holding the good doctor, an all-out firefight ensued but luckily, Garrus had grabbed the doctor and tossed her into cover as Shepard and his gang dealt a swift but bloody death to them.

Thankful for her life, Doctor Michelle given them the information that she had recently patched up a young Quarian girl who had been shot a few days prior.

The minute Shepard had heard that, a fleeting voice had invaded his mind as well as a vision of a Quarian girl standing in front of him, her arms wrapped around his waist, her head tucked underneath his chin.

_"Wherever you go Shepard…I will always follow…"_ His hands had balled up into a fist, a scowl firmly implanted on his face and his eyes narrowing viciously, not that anyone could tell.

After Michelle told them where she was heading, the marines plus the C-sec officer had left the area but something was gnawing at him and that's when another vision filled his mind…

* * *

**_Vision_**

_Shepard was standing in a dark alleyway bathed in red light with tons of crates aligned against the far reaches of the walls, the crates having the insignia of a store he and his gang had passed on the way to the med-labs kept filling his mind, the lights flickering on and off and every other flicker, that same Quarian girl was standing in the abandoned alley, her three fingers clasped together and her head looking side to side, as if she was waiting for something…or someone._

_ He then saw her turn around to face him and with a hesitant step back, he heard her say out loud, "Azrael…" She murmured softly with her exotic accent, causing his eyes to widen in shock. How did she know his codename from his…Darker days?_

_Suddenly, everything around him became muddled as the alleyway morphed behind her into several glowing red eyes behind her which then turned a bright yellow and then, the visor that covered her face slowly started to shine a bright yellow with lines of yellow slowly going down the lines of her suit which then started to glow brightly until Shepard was forced to cover his eyes. "…Hurry!" she yelled out in torment as the eyes behind her focused on Shepard and with malice showing in its voice, it said…._

**_"ASSUMING DIRECT CONTROL!"_**

* * *

**_Vision end_**

Shepard hadn't realized he and his squad had gotten close to the club but when they did, they found Garrus and Wrex waiting for them. He had a good feeling how Garrus had gotten Wrex there but the moment the two spotted each other, Wrex had given him fair warning.

He was going to be the one to kill Fist but as Shepard didn't respond. Instead, he had looked at the door that held an large empty room where Chora's den was located next to, that feeling became stronger while the image of the Quarian in that alleyway persisted in his mind until Shepard finally buckled and asked Garrus about the area that continued to plague his mind.

Garrus looked surprised due to the fact that there was a life at stake and he was asking a question like is which Shepard could not blame him for but Garrus had told him about that area.

"It's an alleyway behind the markets down in the wards. It's kind of a popular place due to the lights as well as various criminal activities such as drug distribution, underworld meetings, prostitution, and slave trading and in rare cases, murder so we have to check on that place often. Why do you ask Commander?"

Shepard shook his head with a confused feeling welling up in his chest. This was his first time on the citadel and yet he not only had this random place appeared in his mind but this place seemed to exist and was quite the popular spot within the underworld…And from what this vision was telling him, the Quarian was there…waiting for him.

He decided that he needed to go with his gut but he couldn't rule out anything else either so with a nod, he had told them what his plan was, which they all stared at him. He had met with a lot of resistance from all of them about how insane he had sounded and he had to admit, it was insane to even suggest that one group would go speak to Fisk while another went to the alleyway but he couldn't bother to dispute what his vision was telling him.

Even though he didn't tell him about his vision.

Shepard even went out of his way to remind them what Garrus had just told them about that infamous alleyway but in case that wasn't enough, he then started to add up the clues.

A scared Quarian looking for a safe haven at the citadel with Information about the Geth that could prove Saren's guilt then being wounded under mysterious circumstances? Something was wrong with this picture and that area would be the second best place to start due to its status as an underworld meeting place, with Fist being the first since the Quarian needed to set up said meeting in the first place.

"I don't like it sir but you have a point…" Ashley replied, conceding, with the others following suit moments later. Shepard didn't let a smirk appear on his face due to the seriousness of the mission but he then split up the teams.

Ashley, Wrex and Richard were to enter Fist's place while he, Garrus and Kaidan were to go to the infamous alley and after telling the three to meet them there just in case the Quarian wasn't at Chora's den.

"Alright Shepard but we do we do with Fist? You know he might have people backing him up?" Richard asked with Wrex and Ashley turning to Shepard, two of them waiting for an answer while one knew the answer already due to his agreement with the said offended Shadow Broker.

Shepard merely looked at the three and replied with a cold tone in filling his voice "Do what you do best."

Nothing else needed to be said.

* * *

**_The Alleyway_**

Garrus had led Shepard and Kaidan to the meeting spot but just as the three entered the alleyway only for them to quickly move back out when they spotted a dozen armed men standing in the alleyway, weapons in hand but there was no Quarian in sight...Yet.

"It seems you were right after all Commander, They were setting a trap for the Quarian" Garrus had murmured under his breath, pulling out his weapon after seeing Shepard and Kaidan arming themselves.

Shepard sneered darkly as he pulled out his assault rifle and responded with "A trap that needs to be dealt with…swiftly…." Shepard's eyes then narrowed dangerously and without any time wasted, the three moved out of their cover and began to fire their weapons.

A few of their rounds managed to strike the shields of the armed men, which all of them turned around and fired back, causing the three trained men to retreat behind the wall.

With a nod, Shepard tossed out a smoke grenade into the alleyway and waited for it to explode and once it did, Shepard slid from his position and walked into the smoke with Garrus and Kaidan walking in behind him.

Shepard had to admit that with the combination of the smoke and the red light, he couldn't help but be reminded by how the red light seemed to bath the smoke as if it was a fine mist of blood which triggered a memory he would have liked to forget.

Standing there in the middle of a room filled with the bodies of batarians and marines alike was a man in black armor with a red strip going down the right arm of the armor, the blood of batarians falling down the black armor and in the man's right hand was a long blade with a black hilt and an obsidian colored blade that was also dripping with the blood of the fallen batarians.

And finally, the man was missing his helmet, revealing the short black hair of the man which was matted onto his face by the blood of the slain and the man himself had a crazed, cruel smirk that was plastered on his face and with the one eye that was visible, it held rage.

Pure rage.

But then, the red mist around the man's body soon began to thicken and soon, the man was enveloped within the mist and moments later, a salarian in white armor was running out from the mist with his gun trained on Shepard's back but that's when Shepard turned to his left and rammed his fist against the helmet of a salarian, knocking the salarian back into the wall where Shepard swiftly pulled out his pistol and fired one clean, point blank shot before turning to his comrades and saying "I don't want to injure the Quarian if she stumbles upon this mist so disarm them and deal out their just rewards for firing upon us."

Kaidan, who saw this execution, looked at his commanding officer and couldn't help but shiver at the way the kill took place. He was trained to dispatch his enemies when in a firefight but never in a upfront, cold manner that Shepard had just displayed and not just that, the way he gave the orders without so much batting an eye about killing someone like that was unsettling the marine but he had to put the sudden harshness of Shepard's mood aside to get the mission done but he didn't think he had it in him to be so…Merciless.

Garrus nodded at Shepard's orders without hesitation. He knew what it meant to do anything to get the job done even if the way it was done was deemed unjust to some people. Seeing both Garrus and Kaidan nod at his orders, Shepard gave his own nod and together, the three continued to advance into the red mist.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire filled their ears and the their shields suddenly flared to life and with an unified scowl, the three men dispersed and while Kaidan and Garrus dove for cover, Shepard leapt over a different crate while throwing an grenade at the thugs shooting at them before landing on the ground back first.

The three could hear the thugs scrambling to get from behind the crates but a loud explosion ensued and through the red smoke, the three watched as five men came flying from the smoke and while two fell to the ground and slide between Kaidan and Garrus' crates and Shepard's while three of them slammed against the wall behind him, accompanied by a sickening crunch made from the hard impact.

Shepard looked at the fallen men next to him as well as behind him and scoffed at their defeat before leaping over his crate to shoot the remaining fighting enemies with his assault rifle, taking a few down effortlessly while Garrus fired his pistol at the fleeing men heading up the alleyway stairs, making them stagger for a moment before falling forwards on the stairs.

Using his biotics to pick up the crates, Kaidan let out a sharp yell and tossed them at the men who were fleeing near the exit of the alley, watching as the crates slammed in the backs of the men, instantly dropping them.

But as he did this, one of the salarians that was sent flying by the grenade earlier was slowly coming to and saw Shepard standing on the crate and taking out a particularly unruly turian that was ranting about the cowards that were leaving, the salarian reached out his shotgun that he had dropped due to his unplanned flight and slumped back against the wall and slowly aimed it at Shepard's back.

Garrus, who had taken his eyes off of the stairwell for the moment saw the salarian aiming at Shepard's back and with a twitch of his mouth, he fired at the salarian repeatedly, watching in grim satisfaction as the body jerked with each impending shot until the salarian dropped his weapon and slumped forward, taking no more breath. Shepard turned around, hearing the shots behind him and saw the dead salarian then turned to see Garrus' gun still hot from the shots fired from it and he let a faint small form on his face.

He would have to thank Garrus for saving his neck again but he was sure he would return the favor very soon but as he jumped off of the crate, Garrus and Kaidan walked next to him and when Kaidan opened his mouth to say something, another voice had spoken up with shock.

_"Keelah…"_

* * *

Rain: And that's all for this chapter. Now for a few explanations. About combining the War Hero backstory and Ruthless Backstory was something I planned for this story. It didn't make any sense for Shepard to be in the Skyllian Blitz and be seen as a war hero without holding a lot of resentment for what the batarians on Elysium which I will explain more in later chapters. I also skipped a lot of scenes like the meeting with the Council and the team heading to see the Council.

Why?

Because those scenes played out exactly like they did in the game and I didn't really know how to add to them in the fic so I left them out altogether. I also had the team split up as well. Richard, Ashley and Wrex going to deal with Fist while Shepard, Kaidan and Garrus went to that alleyway because things with Fist would go down like it did in the original storyline. And as for the image Shepard had before the fire fight, That will also be explain so until the next chapter, read and review!

Mario: See you next time


	3. Chapter 3

Rain: Rain here and I want to thank everyone for reading, adding my story to their favorite's list and following my second chapter but the reviews…Are still lacking big time. I've never been a review whore or anything like that but I do need to know if you guys like my fic or see what I need to work on with my fic so please, leave a review everyone. Until then, enjoy the show!

Mario: Here we go!

* * *

**_Redemption for the Future: Shepard's Rebirth_**

**_Chapter Three_**

When Shepard heard that one word echo down the now bloody alleyway, his body became rigid, his eyes became unfocused, his heart began to dance against his chest and his breathing slowed to a stop. He…He had heard that voice…So many times in the last few days that he had somehow found peace with them but to now know that the owner of that voice was standing at the stairwell behind him….He couldn't think straight.

_"I want to feel your skin against mine"_

**_"I've watched you for so long…"_**

_"I can stay behind…"_

_"I'm standing right here"_

_"I've never shown my face to anyone…"_

_ "Where ever you go…I will follow"_

_"I want more time…"_

As her voice came pouring into his head like gentle raindrops back on earth, Shepard finally took a deep breath and turned around to face her and couldn't help but let a gentle smile form on his face, which surprised Kaidan immensely. As Shepard stepped closer to the shorter Quarian girl, her words that swam around in his head slowly became stronger.

_"Don't leave me behind"_

_"I have a shotgun"_

_"Are you still interested?"_

_"Spiders!"_

_"But I want to show you…Without dying of course"_

**_"But I never imagined that you would ever…"_**

_"I have a home..."_

_"..And I'm babbling like an idiot"_

**_"See past…"_**

_"Come back to me…"_

_"Keelah se'lai"_

**_"…This"_**

"Tali'Zorah?" He watched as the Quarian girl looked up at him, confusion obviously showing in her shining silvery eyes.

"Yes, t-that's me…Who are you? W-What happened here?" She asked with a light nervous stutter which caused Shepard to hold back on a small laugh. He didn't know exactly why but he found that to be very…endearing to him.

"I'm Commander Shepard of the Normandy. Behind me is Lieutenant Kaidan Alenko and C-Sec officer Garrus Valkerian and we are here to talk to you about something"

"L-Like what?" She asked, his eyes gazing past the three heavily armed men to the bodies of the deceased men behind them warily but then her eyes snapped right back to the Commander's thick yellow visor.

"We heard that you had information about a Turian Spectre known as Saren as well as the ge-"

"How did you hear that?" she interrupted with a nervous tone but before Shepard could answer her, all of them turned to the stairs to see Ashley, Wrex and Richard coming down behind the Quarian, only to stare at the bloodbath behind the four people.

"Whoa, Commander, you were right to come here first," Ashley told him the moment she saw him, which made everyone look at the trio.

"Yeah Shepard," Wrex agreed with a grunt before adding "Turns out that Fist was luring the Quarian into a trap but it seems that you deactivated it. How impressive," Wrex then grinned and placed his shotgun onto his shoulders.

"And what of Fist?" Garrus asked.

Richard's eyes flashed to Wrex before turning to the Turian to say "Wrex had a contract to finish…." Shepard merely looked towards Wrex and nodded darkly in approval of this.

"No less than what he truly deserved," Shepard announced only to hear Kaidan try to mask the gasp that had left his mouth.

"How can you say that Commander? True, Fist wasn't a saint but he didn't deserve to die, did he?" Shepard turned to the shocked Kaidan then looked towards the deceased bodies of Fist's henchmen and replied "If we had not made it here today Alenko, She," He motioned to the Quarian, who was standing next to Shepard, very still. As if she was still trying to process everything. "Would have handed over the data we need to stop Saren and the Geth and gotten killed for her efforts."

He then walked away from Kaidan and walked far enough to stare at his entire squad and said "We don't know what Saren is planning but whatever it is, the fate of millions across the galaxy are in danger and at this moment, we are the only ones that can stop it."

His eyes then stared directly at Kaidan's as he said "And if we need to kill a few worthless criminals like Fist in order to save everything we care for then so be it. If you have an issue with his Alenko, You can be assigned to a new ship…"

The two men stared at each other for a long time but Kaidan lowered his eyes as he said "Aye…Commander but what now?"

"Well…That depends on her," Shepard answered him while he turned his gaze to the Quarian, who's head rose to meet his gaze.

"What do you say ma'am? Do you mind sharing your data with us?"

The Quarian merely gazed at the Commander in response to his question before saying with a hint of a sarcastic tone "You're asking me this after saving me from Fist's men, telling me it's about the Geth and that this data can somehow stop Saren's plot while also saving millions of people? What am I supposed to say to that?" She then made a sound of surprise before lowering her head shamefully from that outburst but Ashley merely smirked at this.

"Gotta say Commander, it sounds like she wants to help with our cause," Shepard looked at Ashley then back at the woman standing before him and awaited her answer…

Which he didn't have to wait for long because she looked up at him and said "She's right, I do want to help. You guys saved my life and I need to repay you for that but not here…We need to get somewhere safe."

Shepard nodded at this and for a moment, he wasn't sure where to go until Garrus said "Maybe we should go to the human embassy. Your ambassador would probably want to see what the Quarian has."

"Tali..." The woman said, making all eyes turn to her curiously.

"What was that?" Richard asked curiously.

"My name…Its Tali'Zorah Nar Raaya"

Shepard smiled faintly at this and held out his hand to her, saying "Nice to meet you Tali."

Tali stared at the hand for a moment then back at Shepard before taking his hand in a gentle handshake, replying "It's nice to meet you too." Shepard nodded at this and turned around to walk off, hearing each member of his squad introduce themselves to Tali, who responded with a kind "Nice to meet you"

_'Well…This may prove to be interesting...'_

* * *

**_One hour later_**

**_The Normandy_**

"So…How does it feel to not only being the first human Spectre ever and the captain of the Normandy, Shepard? Must be pretty awesome, Right?" Shepard's hidden eyes gazed over to Joker's sitting form and gave a small frown.

He honestly didn't know what to think about the change of events. Just three hours ago, after all the countless bullets, after all the threats given and all the meetings he was forced to endure, he had not only gotten the proof he needed to prove that Saren was a traitor but he was officially the first human a Spectre in the known galaxy….

If only due to them wanting him to hunt Saren down but he knew full damn well that if he crossed the council one too many times that once he bought Saren to justice and stopped the geth, they would send a Spectre to hunt him down so he needed to be careful but how did he honestly feel about Anderson being bullied to releasing control of the Normandy into his hands thanks to Udina?

He felt…Conflicted.

"To be honest, I hate the fact that Captain Anderson was forced to relinquish the Normandy into my command but at the same time, what Spectre has a captain to give him them their orders? Fact is, as guilty as I truly feel about all of this; I'm glad that I no longer need to follow the chain of command. I now have the obligation to do what needs to be done. Not only as the captain of this ship, but as a Spectre as well. I know that I will need to make hard choices for the good of the galaxy, something he wouldn't be able to do due to his morals and while that is good, sometimes, good thing have vicious backlash."

He then paused for a moment as if he was thinking of something added "Besides, Anderson and Saren have a personal history together and were he to remain on this ship as its captain, He would let his anger blind him which in turn would cause him to make the wrong choices and in the end…People will die…"

Suddenly, the faces of a bald Caucasian woman with tattoos on her neck, a Caucasian woman with flowing brown hair and a smug smirk, a woman hiding behind a hood with a purple strip going down the middle of her bottom lip, an Asari with an a gold crest on her head, a krogan with bright blue eyes, an African American man with chocolate brown eyes, a dark grey colored geth with a bright blue eye, (Which surprised him) a heavily scared man with a glass eye, an Hispanic man with tattoos on his neck, salarian with a missing left horn(?) and a Drell with his eyes closed, his head bowed and his hands clasped in front of his face appeared in his head, causing a sense of sadness to form in his chest but he couldn't let this show…He had no idea who these people were but from the pain in his chest, they were important to him…But how?

_'I need to figure out what the hell is going on with me…This could affect the mission…'_

"Well…You shouldn't feel so damn guilty commander, all of us know that Anderson was screwed from his position and in some way, I agree with you. Richard told me about how he inadvertently made things a bit harder so as hard as it was to say goodbye to him, we're not going sit here and blame you for his forced retirement. Commander, we're all behind you one hundred percent. Just promise to lead us into an Asari spa resort to instill our loyalty from time to time," Joker told him with a wry grin but then took his eyes off of his new captain for a moment to activate the intercom then turned back to Shepard to ask "Well then, You have anything you want to say to your crew?"

Shepard nodded and stepped forward to the intercom and took a breath before saying "Attention crew of the SSV Normandy, This is Commander Shepard speaking and what I'm about to tell you will be of great importance so listen well. We are on a mission to stop a group of beings that have not been seen outside the veil in over two hundred years, being led by a rouge Spectre known as Saren Arterius. I will not lie; this mission will not be an easy one. Not even close."

He closed his eyes and took a slow breath before opening them again while saying "As much as none of you want to hear this, saving everyone only happens in vids on the extranet. There will be tears, there will be blood and there will be sacrifices abound. Being in charge means making sure I lead all of you to greater objective which is stopping Saren from getting to the conduit at all costs. That's a reality that needs to be shared by all of us. Everything is riding on our victory and I will be damned if we fail and let him succeed in bringing back these…Reapers…"

Shepard had to pause as the dark voice in his head murmured a soft **_"You will fail"_**, causing him to hold the side of his head in pain but he forced himself to endure this pain to continue on with his speech.

"This could very well be our last mission and I don't want anyone to walk into this with regrets so tonight, I want those who have family on the Citadel to go home, make love to your spouse, spend time with your children, be with your family, drink till your hearts are content with your friends and comrades and if you don't have family on the citadel then phone those you care about but come tomorrow morning, we leave here…And we will fight."

"We fight for those Saren has killed in the past, we fight for those that can perish in the future….We fight for every living, breathing being in this universe…We fight for the lost…And we will fight for the saved…Have a good night everyone. Shepard out." With those words, Joker cancelled the feed and went to give Shepard a look only to blink in surprise when he found that Shepard had disappeared from his side.

"How the hell did he do that with them heavy ass boots on?"

**_Shepard_**

Shepard didn't waste any time to leave what he deemed "Joker's domain" and waltzed down to the bridge where Kaidan was awaiting for him and with a pat on Kaidan's shoulder, Shepard said to him "Lieutenant Alenko, gather Wrex, Tali, Garrus, Richard and Ashley and tell them to meet me in the meeting room, I need to speak with all of you" Kaidan nodded at this but placed his hand on Shepard's shoulder, causing the Commander to look back at him.

"About what happened in that alleyway…I apologize. I was out of line" Shepard shook his head and placed a hand on Kaidan's outstretch arm, silently saying it was alright and that he forgave him.

But as Shepard stared at the lieutenant, he heard the man's voice in his head faintly say _"It's been done Commander…Go back and get Williams …And get out of here…Please…go.."_ But the way Shepard had heard it, it was so…haunting…so…broken…so alone.

After Kaidan removed his arm, Shepard swiftly walked away, that pain in his chest becoming more pronounced until he got to his private quarters, Shepard slid down the wall and gently removed his helmet and sat it down on the desk beside his bed and laid down

his perfect helmet became marred with deep embedded scorch marks, the area on his yellow visor where his left eye would be was busted open, showing the inside of his helmet and for a split moment, he saw himself staring back at him, both yellow eyes glowing brightly.

With a yelp, Shepard smacked his helmet away from him, breathing heavily and slowly as sweat dripped down his face before he closed his eyes and turned his head upwards as if he was staring at the ceiling.

"What is happening to me….?"

* * *

**_Meeting Room_**

"So, any idea why Shepard wanted us down here?" A concerned Richard asked Kaidan while leaning back in his chair, his feet propped up on Kaidan's lap only for Kaidan to knock them back down to the ground and give him a disappointed shake of his head, only for Richard to stick his tongue out at him which caused Ashley to roll her eyes and muttered _"Men" _underneath her breath.

"I have no idea. He just wanted all of us here," The lieutenant replied with a shrug of his shoulders, giving Richard a glare when the young marine placed his feet back on his lap, only to push them back off.

"He may want to go over the mission with us," Tali murmured, sitting in the chair farthest from everyone. "I mean, it's not everyday something like this happens." Ashley shrugged and glanced over at the Quarian and yawned lazily, leaning back on her chair.

"I just hope he gets here soon, I'm utterly exhausted from today's events," Garrus couldn't help but let out a bark of a laugh from Ashley's comment, which caused the human female's eyebrow to quirk in annoyance but as she opened her mouth to respond, the door opened to reveal Shepard without his armor but he was wearing his uniform and a jacket that had the similar colors of the Alliance uniform on it on top of it with his hood over his head.

Normally, he wouldn't dare wear his alliance jacket unless on shore leave but due to the massive headache he had, he needed to shield his eyes from the bright florescent lights that shined above him. "I know that I told everyone to go onto the Citadel for shore leave but I needed to speak to all of you face to face about our upcoming mission."

Shepard took a deep breath and looked towards the six people he would be commanding once the mission began and knew he had some work to do. He had read all of their dossiers (on the exception of Tali's and Wrex's) and knew that the four he had read and showed him all he needed to know. The first one had read was Ashley Williams.

The dossier said that while she is brash, prickly, blunt and quick-tempered and has her moments of arrogance, she was very her dedicated to her job and the alliance, she was loyal, brutally honest, aggressive on the field and tough but far but she also had a penchant for poetry and instilled moral to whoever was under her command.

Her weapons training was one of the best in her class and no one could score higher scores than her and that impressed him greatly but that's when he noticed that despite her endless praises from officers above her, including his former commanding officer, Gunnery Chief Ellison, she was only stuck on ground Garrison posts up until Eden Prime. He didn't get it, from all accounts, she was a perfect field leader that inspired unity as well as bravery but that's when he read an excerpt from Ellison about Williams.

_"Even though Williams is a suburb Soldier and Leader, Her superiors' prejudice against her family is costing her the chance to gain actual combat experience, despite her exemplary technical scores. I cannot name the many times Williams requested a transfer to a shipboard posting, only to be denied without explicit reasons. I believe that due to this unfair discrimination she's experiencing due to her name, Ashley may start to think that she has to be better than the best, to make up for her grandfather's "Mistake" at Shanxi and I fear that this can lead to her demise if she is not careful."_

Shepard then understood.

Ashley's family name was being tainted by her grandfather's legacy as the only human general to surrender to the Turians at Shanxi during the early start of first contact war but he found this idiotic. The general had saved the lives of his men instead of leading them to the slaughter against the Turians and not only was he shunned for it, he apparently cursed his family to this "Shame".

But as he watched her eyes gaze towards Garrus when the Turian moved slightly, he saw the distrust in her eyes and seeing that, caused his head to throb in pain as another vision forced itself to the forefront of his mind.

**_Vision_**

_"I know things are different here on the Normandy but…I'm concerned about something," Shepard's eyebrow rose at this. He and Ashley were talking about the mission to rescue Doctor Liara T'Soni when she suddenly sprang this up on him and at first, he was going to simply tell her to return to her duties but then he shook his head. Maybe he should hear here out on this one._

_"What are your concerns Chief Williams?" He asked after a few moments of silence before saying "And yes, you can speak freely."_

_"Thank you Commander…Ah, with all due respect Sir, do you think they should have full access to the ship? The Aliens…Primarily Valkerian and Wrex…" That took Shepard off guard. He wasn't expecting a question like that but then his eyes narrowed. He did not like where this was going one bit but he answered "I do…They are a part of this crew and so far, they've proven themselves worthy of my trust to not take advantage of it this isn't about their loyalty is it?"_

_Shepard then walked a few feet away from her with his back turned before turning his head and narrowing his eyes coldly and said "It's because they're not humans." He watched Ashley take a few steps back, seemingly surprised at the cold look he had given her but she then regained that fire in her eyes and said "Sir, this is one of the most advanced ships in the Alliance Navy. I honestly don't think we should sit here and give them free reign to poke around the vital systems. Like the weapons, sensors and engines…I just don't think it's a good idea."_

_"I understand your concerns but this ship is under my orders." Shepard responded icily but Ashley quickly fired back with "Under your orders? So it's under your orders to let aliens gather military intelligence? I don't think I can believe that was the Alliance's intention…" She seemed to pause for a moment to get her tune in check, seemingly remembering that she was talking to her commanding officer before saying "I just think that Humans need to rely on humans…We can't put too much trust on these aliens." _

_"So…You're telling me that instead of working as a team, we should mistreat the aliens that chose to come with us out of their own free will to stop Saren and do this on our own?" Shepard responded while shutting his eyes, trying to keep his temper in check but he couldn't…_

_He needed to let his thoughts be heard or else it would boil inside him before coming out at the wrong time so with a frown, he said to her "Listen Gunnery chief, this is **my** ship and I will not have you question my decisions on who I trust. If you continue to second guess my command, I will lock you up in the brig for insubordination and see to it that you go back to what you were doing before Eden Prime, working on planet side Garrisons until your dying day. Do you understand me Chief?"_

_He saw the fire In Ashley's eyes brighten at his harsh tone and knew she wanted to lash back but then the fired died quickly and like a wounded animal, she nodded and murmured "Understood Commander…."_

**_Vision End_**

After the vision faded away into his head, he let his eyes stay closed for a moment to gather his thoughts and then he looked towards Ashley and merely shook his head. There was no way in hell he would allow this to go down but unlike himself in the vision, he needed to play this differently but he knew that she wasn't the only issue on his team but he'll deal with the others when their time comes.

But the question was how?

Walking to a chair that was in the middle and at the top of the circle of chairs, Shepard sat down and gazed at his soldiers and said to them "Now, this mission is highly important. The fate of the universe rests in our hands. I know that we're basically a group of dogs facing a pack of wolves."

Garrus, Wrex and Tali glanced at each other at the mention of these "Wolves" but the Turian shrugged and looked back at Shepard, prompting Wrex and Tali to do the same. "But I know for a fact that we can hunt down Saren and take him out but in order to really do that, we need to do a few things…" Shepard continued while leaning back in his chair.

"Like what Commander?" Tali asked with a tilt of her head, making Shepard smile very faintly and briefly.

"Well, The first thing we need to work on is…" He started out before leaning forward to look at all of them with a serious tone in his voice.

"Unity."

This one word had caused the six members of his squad to look at him in surprise. "I'm sure all of you know that in order to truly become a team, we need to have harmony within this squad because without that, we would fall into chaos and being that we are the only ones that has the abilities to take out Saren, we might as well hand him the galaxy on a silver platter."

He then let his words sink in before saying "This is the reason why we'll be starting team exercises from this moment on."

When Shepard finished, Wrex lets out a rough bark of a laugh before glancing at Shepard and saying "Do you honestly think bonding will help our teamwork? I mean look at your troops."

Shepard turned his head to see Richard as pale as a ghost with Ashley and Kaidan on guard with clenched jaws then he turned back to Wrex who told the Commander "They can barely be in the same room as us without either getting scared or on edge. Given the chance, they wouldn't hesitate to take any of us down if we weren't in your presence."

"Which is why we are doing these exercises Wrex," Shepard stood up in his chair and walked to the middle of the room and said to all of them "I know for a fact this won't be easy for any of us. Hell, A Turian, a Krogan and a Quarian teaming up with four humans to hunt down a former top Spectre which also belongs to one of the races in citadel space? This is practically unheard of but here we are. Doing the impossible already just by all of us being together."

Shepard let a sigh leave his lips as he gathered his thoughts for a split second before adding "… The Council already believes we won't be able to capture him and stop his plans and if we don't get on the same page, we will prove them right and fail. Something I will not allow. If any of you dislike the ideas of working with aliens of any kind, be kind enough to tell me now. Otherwise, we can begin."

At this point, he made it a point to **not** look in Ashley's direction, despite feeling the brief rush of anxiety from her and merely said after moments of silence, "Perfect…Now…Before we get our team training underway, I want to discuss with all of you the three main areas we will be heading to investigate after our brief shore leave."

"And what planets are those Commander Shepard?" Richard asked with a serious expression on his face, which was shared by everyone. "The planets of Noveria, of Feros, and any planet that resides in the Knossos system." Shepard replied with a nod.

"These places…" Tali started with a confused tone in her synthesized voice, her silvery eyes gazing at Shepard, who nodded at her to continue. "What do they have to do with our mission, Commander?"

"Well, there have been sightings of one of Saren's accomplices, Matriarch Benezia in Noveria and in Feros, the Geth have invaded and fighting a human colony there but we don't exactly know why the Geth have invaded that planet," Shepard explained with a cross of his arms, the curious frown on his face telling his squad that he was deep in thought.

"And why the Knossos system of all places, Commander?" Shepard looked at Garrus and saw the critical thinking in the turian's eyes. "To find Doctor Liara T'Soni, The daughter of Matriarch Benezia and an expert on the Protheans. She was last seen in that system but then she suddenly went missing."

He let the team soak this in for a moment and once he felt that it was time to continue, he saw Kaidan raise his hand and with a nod of approval, Kaidan said "We should go to Noveria. If we can find Benezia, she might be able to tell us where Saren is hiding." Richard nodded in agreement at this, a serious look on his otherwise playful, youthful face.

"I think that's a setup," Garrus replied, shaking his head at Kaidan's opinion. "Saren would know we would go after her first and may have tons of Geth to aid her. We should instead find her daughter, Dr. T'Soni. She could have valuable information about Saren and plus, she's a Prothean expert, we might need her."

Wrex bobbed his head at this and gave a reply of "Seems like the scuttle bone has a good point" with a rough but humored tone, which caused Garrus' mandibles to twitch in annoyance. "We should find this Doctor Shepard."

Ashley snorts at this and murmurs under her breath _"Of course, aliens siding with alien, how original." _Before loudly saying "She could also be working for Saren. I mean her mother is on his side so why wouldn't she side with them? Personally commander, I think we should go to Feros first since the reports do say the Geth are attacking there. Dr. T'Soni may still be safe but the colony on Feros may not last much longer if we go after her or her mother first. Besides, maybe we can find some information about Saren and the Geth as well."

Shepard nodded in agreement at this and went to say something but then to his surprise, Tali's voice floated into his ear, saying "I agree with Ashley, Commander. The lives of hundreds of people are in danger from the Geth and they won't stop until every last one of your species on that planet is dust against the wind." Shepard smiled at this.

He was not only glad that she had put her opinion into this but he was happy to see Ashley's eyes light up at someone agreeing with her but then that smile of his was wiped off of his face when he heard Garrus' next words.

"Yeah, they wouldn't be however if your species hadn't created them in the first place," Garrus drawled out with a shrug and closed eyes, missing the sharp look Shepard had given him but then Tali let out a soft sigh but suddenly, Ashley stood up from her chair and pointed to Garrus and yelled "Who do you think you are to say something that like you and your species are so pure?"

"I say it only because it is true. Had the Quarians not created the Geth, Saren wouldn't have his army and Eden Prime would still be a peaceful planet instead of being ruins." The Turian replied while glancing at her lazily, making Ashley bristle in anger.

"Oh, and I guess that the Quarians got off light huh? Being exiled from their planet, out casted by the Council species, and being trapped in those suits for the rest of their lives? And not only that, they're entire species are treated like vagabonds and thieves. You can sit there and act like your shit doesn't stink but it does Turian."

Garrus' mandibles click in anger as he and Ashley gave each other a harsh glare which was only broken up by a rough laugh from Wrex.

"Well Shepard, it seems you have a lot of work to do to get this team united."

Shepard could only sigh at his words.

_'I have a long way to go…'_

* * *

Rain: And that ends the third chapter. Now, I once again skipped the scene with the Council due to the fact we all know how he becomes a Spectre and all of that so I don't need to rehash it. Same with Anderson giving his ship to the commander. Now, A lot of ME fics I've read never exactly touched upon the teamwork aspect of the team and sadly, the game is the same way so a lot of the things I will be working on is to build the friendship and teamwork of the entire Normandy team and I'm sure you guys know the first two people I'm starting with. So send in more reviews guys. Until the next chapter

Mario: See you next time


	4. Chapter 4

Rain: No large text of wall. Just enjoy the show!

Mario: here we go!

* * *

**_Redemption from the Future: Shepard's Return_**

**_Chapter Four_**

"Well, it could've been worst. Garrus and Ashley could have gotten into a gunfight right then and there had you not been at the meeting, Shepard."

Joker could only look at Shepard with a small grin on his face after giving his opinion. Richard had told him all that had gone down in the meeting from the day before and Joker had to admit, he found the entire story hilarious.

Not too hilarious though because he preferred having his baby in one shape and not filled with bullet holes. "I also have to say, you have your work cut out for you. I mean, this whole situation is very weird. You can't expect teamwork on the first shot Commander."

"You know, Wrex said the same thing but I know it'll get better," Shepard replied with an exhausted sigh before a quick vision formed in his head.

He was surrounded by a group of people, all of them standing in front of a couch, all of them strike various poses in front of the camera and then the camera flashed but when he reached for the picture in the vision, he was surrounded by these figures that were just black and blurry blobs. He didn't know what to make of but sooner or later, he would figure out what it represented.

"Commander!"

Shepard's eyes flashed to Joker, who had a look of "Were you even listen to me?" on his face and all Shepard could do was scratch his right cheek with a sheepish smile, making Joker roll his eyes with a grin on his face before asking "So what's our first destination?"

Shepard merely crossed his arms in thought.

Due to yesterday's debacle, none of them had decided where their first mission would be and at the moment, he was confused as all hell but that's when his mind flashed to reveal a young looking Asari with dazzling blue eyes, smiling in his direction before the vision flashed to a planet that looked a little similar to earth from the view from space except it was a dull red which then glowed brightly, leaving Shepard momentarily blinded but then the light faded away to reveal Joker, making the same face from before but only it also read "What the hell is wrong with you?"

He then suddenly remembered one of the missions.

"The Knossos system, which somewhere is in the Artemis Tau Cluster. Try and find the dull red, earth like planet," Shepard told him, making Joker's face give that  
look some more.

"Yeah, I think I know where the Knossos system is Commander but do you mean the planet Therum? If my memory serves me right, that's the only planet that looks like that." Shepard merely patted Joker's shoulder while saying "Good man" while also making sure to be gentle with it due to Joker's brittle bone disease known as Vrolik Syndrome.

Walking away to let Joker do his work, Shepard was rubbing his temples lightly to try and sooth the pain in his head. He had just received two visions in a five minute time span and it was killing him but at least he knew where he would first go.

Despite all that went down during the briefing yesterday, Garrus had made a good argument. If they had gone to Noveria like Kaidan suggested, Saren would be expecting them and going to Feros was a bad idea if there were swarms of Geth there.

He needed someone who had information about the Prothean technology and she was his best bet. Besides, maybe she could help him with these visions that came about due to his contact with the Prothean Beacon on Eden Prime. But the question then came up.

_'What if she can't help me with this?'_ What would he do? These visions were quickly becoming a hazard to his mental health and they could become a hazard to not only his physical health but his teammates as well if a vision suddenly came up during a mission.

He knew that Chakwas wouldn't be able to help him either. When he had finished the disastrous briefing yesterday, he had gone to her to give him a mental checkup and after hours sitting on that cold, uncomfortably stiff bed, she told him what they both already knew so what could either of them do?

All he knew was that he couldn't let himself fall asleep due and he had forced himself to stay up the night before due to an unsettling nightmare he had the night before but as quickly realized that with each vision he had, he'd become more exhausted than before and he knew for a fact that he wouldn't sleep again tonight just to avoid another nightmare.

Something needed to be done.

Very soon or else he was going to go insane…

Had Shepard been paying attention, he would have noticed two things. One was that he was now walking into the mess hall and two, he was inches away from bumping into the Quarian he, Garrus and Kaidan had saved yesterday but when he did notice these two things, he had bumped into Tali, sending her falling to the floor.

"Ow," Was the word that came from Tali's mouth as she bounced on the floor lightly, a pouting tone in her voice which nearly made Shepard smile in amusement but then he placed his hand in front of her, letting a small "Are you ok?" Leave his lips.

He watched as she tilted her head at his hand in front of her before placing her smaller, three fingered one into his and let him pull her up where she answered with "I'll be ok Commander."

Shepard could hear the nervousness in her voice and inwardly sighed at it. He could understand her nervousness due to being on a human ship and all but he didn't want her to feel uncomfortable aboard his vessel.

That's when he remembered where he was and asked her "Where you coming here to get something to eat?" Shepard asked with a small tilt of his head.

Seeing her nod, her silvery white eyes darting side to side nervously but then she shook her head, saying "Not Really. I came up here to talk to y-you. I just wasn't expecting you to be here…"

_'Neither was I to be honest...'_ He responded in his head wryly before a confused frown formed on his face. Why was she looking for him? There was only one way to find out.

"Well, you found me. So let's sit down and chat," He told her with a faint but sincere smile, giving her shoulder a small pat before sitting down on the bench where she then joined. "So, what did you want to talk to me about?"

"I wanted to apologize for the meeting yesterday…" Now Shepard couldn't help but blink in surprise. Why was she apologizing about yesterday? He didn't voice this however.

He instead waited for her to continue which he didn't have to wait long. "It was my fault that Garrus and Ashley got into an argument. If I hadn't said anything, I'm sure it wouldn't have happened."

"That's nonsense Tali," Shepard interrupted suddenly, his hidden eyes gazing at her glowing ones. "I asked the entire squad for their opinions and you're a part of my squad. Hell, if it wasn't for you and your evidence, none of us would be hunting down Saren in the first place."

He let this sink into Tali's head for a moment before saying to her "If anything, it should be Valkerian apologizing instead of you due to instigating in that fight with his insensitive words."

"But he is right on some level Commander," Tali said gently, her eyes looking down at the table beneath her arms. "Saren wouldn't have his army had my people not created the Geth hundreds of years ago. Any life they take during all of this will wind up making the universe despise us Quarians even more…"

Shepard also shook his head with a frown on his face. "Even if the Geth did not exist, I'm sure Saren would have found another way to do this. He could hire some mercenaries or whatever."

Shepard then sighed gently before placing a comforting hand on her shoulder, which caused her to look up at him in slight alarm but he took this chance to say to her "Tali, he would have gotten the help somehow without them but unfortunately, he managed to convince the creation of your race to join his side for some sick cause. Your species may have created them but none of you are responsible for what they have done or for what they will do. Any death they cause will be on Saren's head and we're the people that are going to bring him to justice before he can cause even more damage than he already has. I give you my word on that Tali'Zorah."

He saw Tali look into his eyes while narrowing her own, as if she was trying to pry a lie through his eyes but after a moment, she nodded and looked away from him while mumbling a faint but sincere tone in her voice "Thank you Commander…"

Shepard merely smiled at this and went to say something else but then his vision began to sway violently before he blacked out, the last thing he saw was Tali's wide, worried silver eyes.

"Commander!"

* * *

**_Vision_**

_Shepard was now lying in the middle of a battlefield; large red laser beams were shooting out the sky and the faint sounds of gunfire was heard all around him. _

_He was weak, battered, drained and in tremendous amount of pain but none of that mattered for what he saw had broken his spirit. Just what seemed like moments ago, he had watched as that giant squid looking machine had just destroyed the transport vehicle that held his best friend, the girl he loved explode right in front of him. _

_ "T-Tali…" he mumbled to himself in agony as silent sobs left his lips, his eyes filling up with unshed tears before blinking rapidly, letting them fall down the sides of his eyes and down his face. _

_He had done many terrible things in his lifetime but he didn't deserve this but as he lay there, he heard it. It was a voice that was agonizingly familiar but it sounded mechanical and darker than the light and loving tone he was used to._

**_"Shepard…You will fail…"_**

_Looking up, he saw a machined version of a Turian that looked exactly like Saren standing before him, his eyes glowing a bright and ominous yellow with flickers of red inside of them. _

_Suddenly, the mechanized Turian lifted up his right arm and revealed the head of the Quarian he cared for dearly but he could see the same yellow glow that the Turian's eyes were glowing behind her visor. **"This is her fate Shepard…This will be the fate of everyone you care for…"**_

_The Turian seemed to look behind him which caused Shepard to look as well and that's when he saw it. The faces of every friend he had made, every family member, every member of the Normandy as well as eighteen black and blurry blobs that with a humanoid shape to them, all of their eyes glowing that same horrifyingly yellow. _

_Without warning, Tali's dismembered head was in his face, her glowing yellow eyes glaring hatefully into his as her mechanized voice screamed out **"It is inevitable Shepard…You…will…FAIL!"**_

* * *

**_Vision end_**

With a loud gasp, Shepard found himself sitting up in the medical bay, sweat pouring from his face as he panted heavily and shakily but then he heard a someone breathing slowly and gently to his side and what he saw was Tali, the mouth piece of her helmet glowing with every small breath and moan she took but her visor being completely dark violet, indication to Shepard that she had seemingly fallen asleep but then she began to open her eyes.

For a moment, Shepard was terrified that when she opened her eyes, they would be glowing yellow but thankfully, her glow of her silver-white eyes where there and it caused him to smile…

Just before the small engineer yelled "Doctor Chakwas! He's awake!" causing his headache to return immediately. A few seconds later, Chakwas cam bustling out of the room that was inside of the medical bay almost immediately when Tali told her this, a concerned look on her face.

"Thank goodness you've finally woke up Shepard," She announced while staring at him, trying to now conceal her worry. "You gave everyone quite a scare with suddenly collapsing in the mess hall the way you did. Especially the person you were talking too."

Shepard looked at Chakwas and then Tali, ready to apologize for the worry but before he could say anything, Joker's voice came on over the intercom, saying "Hey everyone, we just arrived at the lovely lava planet of Therum! Please, no thanks. It was my pleasure bringing you all here!"

Shepard immediately jumped off of the bed and pressed a button on his omni tool to tell Kaidan "Round up everyone and report down to the Mako. Tali'Zorah and I will be there in a moment," Hearing this made Chakwas jump in front of him to say "Shepard, I don't think you going out there, especially after your fainting spell in the Mess hall."

"I'll be fine Karin." Shepard told her, referring to her by her first name to get his point across.

But Chakwas wouldn't hear that because she instantly replied "Shepard, you are obviously not fine. What if you collapse during your mission? For god sakes Shepard, you can die out there if you aren't careful."

Shepard opened his mouth to respond to this but suddenly, a vision of him and his team running out of a cavern with Dr. T'Soni on their heels with the Normandy in front of them appeared in his mind, making him say "Trust me, I'm, not going to die Chakwas," Shepard let an arrogant smirk form on his face but then he told her "But if I collapse down there, I'll have Kaidan take over in my stead but I'm going down there."

Shepard then turned his back away from the good doctor to avoid looking at her while he said "I need to lead my team because not only is it our first search and rescue mission together but our first mission as a team and considering that just yesterday, two of my squad members were going to come to blows, I can't cancel this mission and there is no way I'm letting them go down without me…"

Chakwas obviously wanted to argue more with Shepard, being the doctor of the ship but she heard the conviction in his voice and merely sighed out his name faintly before telling him "When you come back, you are to report here immediately. I will not take no for an answer on this one."

"Hey, Aren't I the commander of this vessel?" Shepard asked with his right brow quirked.

"Yes you are but when it comes to the health of the crew of this vessel, I'm in charge. Now both of you do try to stay safe out there and Miss Zorah, please relay this message to all your other squad mates if you can."

Shepard couldn't help but smile when Tali's eyes widened in surprise when Chakwas talked to her but then Tali nodded in reply to this and with that said; Shepard and Tali quickly ran out of the Med-bay, leaving Chakwas behind.

* * *

**_Therum_**

"Oh wow…I'm getting some crazy "What the hell is this?" readings down there Commander. It looks like it's coming from some underground complex near the drop zone," Shepard heard Joker say as his entire squad sat in the Mako, trying to shake the cobwebs out of their heads after the rough landing onto the planet.

"Underground complex huh? Sounds interesting," Wrex said with a grumble of satisfaction, bobbing his head lightly. "Yeah….Well, keep save and have a good time down there kids. Be sure to bring daddy tons of treats when you come back. Preferably something that won't break my bones or kill me."

Shepard couldn't help but let a small grin form on his face from Joker's words as he and his team was sitting inside the Mako on the planet Therum, all of them looking over their various weapons, making sure they were all in working condition. "Understood Joker. We'll see you when we get back. Shepard out," Shepard told the pilot before he took a hold of the wheel of the Mako, much to the horror of both Richard and Kaidan.

"Sir, maybe you should let one of us drive the Mako," Kaidan said with a nervous stare to his commander.

Shepard looked back and raised an eyebrow in Kaidan's direction…Not that Kaidan could see due to the thick yellow visor over the top of his face but Kaidan seemed to understand what he was doing and continued with "Well…The last time you drove the Mako, it wasn't pretty for me and Richard…Especially Richard."

Richard, who was sitting right side of the Mako instantly held his seatbelt as hard as he could, starting to get a little pale.

Shepard continued to stare at him for another minute before saying "It wasn't that bad of a ride so calm down Alenko," And with that said, Shepard stepped on the gas petal and drove the Mako at top speed, causing everyone to shriek in surprise and then hold on to their seatbelts for dear life….

Except Wrex, who was very amused by the horrendous ride. "Keelah!" Tali shrieked out as Shepard made a sharp left turn, causing her to bump into Wrex, who merely turned his head and stared at her .

"What's wrong little Quarian? Can't handle the ride?" Wrex taunted with a toothy smirk on his scarred face.

Tali narrowed her eyes at Wrex and tried to pry herself off of him but then when Shepard made a sharp right turn, she found herself slamming against Ashley's form but Ashley merely turned her head to Tali, revealing how pale it was and asked "Are you alright Tali?"

Tali stared at the human woman for a moment then nodded, saying "I will be fine, as long as Shepard doesn't make another tu-" She interrupted herself as she shrieked again when Shepard made another sharp turn, making her slam into Wrex again. "I hate being in the middle." Tali moaned out faintly while Wrex laughed again.

Richard and Kaidan were both very quiet but they could be seen shaking in their seats next to one another, both frightfully pale. Garrus on the other hand was calm and collected as he sat in the seat next to Shepard, his hands ready to fire the Mass Accelerator cannon and the coaxial-mounted machine gun in case they spotted Geth on the planet.

Shepard had been driving as fast as he could to get to the coordinates of where Joker told them where the readings were coming from when he noticed something that caused him to stop the Mako, ignoring Richard's "Oh thank God" coming from behind him.

"Commander, why did you stop?" Garrus asked, turning his head to Shepard direction but when Shepard continued to look out of the window, Garrus looked out as well and saw it.

A large, wingless synthetic Hornet was seeing flying from the distance and right towards them, causing a large shadow on the ground. "What in the hell is that?" Garrus whispered in awe of the frigate in the air.

"What do you guys looking at?" Ashley asked with a tilt of her head. "It's like a hornet but its wingless and its silvery looking."

"Oh no, it's a Geth drop ship!" Tali exclaimed in horror after hearing the description of what the two were looking at. Shepard immediately turned around to face Tali, as did everyone else and seeing all those eyes on her made nervous but considering the serious situation, she swallowed her nervousness and continued on.

"That thing is a Geth drop ship. It's a frigate that carries not only the Geth foot soldiers but also Geth Armatures and their stronger counterpart, the Geth Colossus. They are dangerous and can wipe out many troops in mere moments with their Siege Pulse Cannons. We do not want to handle those, especially at close range."

"Tali…How can you tell the Colossus and the Armatures apart?" Shepard said ominously, watching as three large bright platinum-silver balls slammed into the ground far ahead of them.

"Well, The Colossus is a lot brighter, bigger, a platinum-silver color. Why?" Shepard narrowed his eyes and took a small breath as he saw three platinum-silver praying mantis (excluding the two arms) looking machine with the familiar "Head" of the Geth on four legs stalking towards them slowly.

"Because we're about to get into one hell of a battle in this thing. Garrus, I want you firing on those things three seconds ago. Everyone, hold tight!" Shepard ordered before stepping on the gas once again while Garrus began firing the machine gun towards the closest one that was firing its one machine gun at them.

Shepard quickly hit the boost button to avoid the machines bullets just as Garrus aimed the Mako's cannon and firing it, smirking as the Colossus' head exploded on impact of the Mako's bullet.

"That's one down Commander," Garrus said while The Mako swerved left and right, avoiding the powerful waves of purple energy that shot out from both of the Colossus' siege cannons, nearly falling off the edge into the lava, much to Richard's terror.

"Man, why didn't I stay on the ship?!" Richard screamed out in panic but his scream was overshadowed due to the sound of bullets slamming into the Mako as well as the sounds of the Mako's machine gun and cannon going off.

The Mako quickly found its ground thanks to the boosters but was hit on its side, not only sending it flying in the air and making it crash onto the ground, nearly making it fall upside down but depleting its shields almost dramatically.

"Damn it Garrus, Kill these things!" Shepard exclaimed after forcing the Mako to stand on its four tires again and turning it around easily thanks to the boosters.

"I'm trying Commander!" Garrus replied while firing the machine gun again, managing to destroy the second one but then the weapon became overheated.

"Damn it. Our machine gun and cannon are overheated." Shepard gave a sharp growl and stepped on the gas again, driving towards the last Colossus which was firing its machine gun towards the charging Mako.

"Commander, what are you doing?" Garrus asked, his head turned to Shepard's direction as the Mako swerved from side to side sharply while getting closer to the large machine. "Simple, turning the Mako into a weapon." Hearing this, Kaidan, Tali, Richard and Ashley traded looks of alarm to each other while Wrex chuckled.

"Thinking like a true Krogan, eh Shepard?"

Shepard could only grin at Wrex's words as he continued to drive until he was right below the Colossus and hit the booster as hard as he could, ramming the roof of the Mako into the head of the Colossi, making tilt backwards and then fall to the ground where the Mako's tire came slamming into its head when he landed heavily, destroying it instantly.

It was completely quiet inside of the Mako now, every member inside of it breathing slowly, not moving a single muscle in their body until Garrus began to laugh slowly then Shepard shortly joined in and soon, everyone inside was laughing their heads off.

"I have to say Commander, That…That was the single most risky maneuver I've ever been a part of but hell, was it a glorious one." Garrus said after his laughter had died down.

"I agree with Valkerian," Ashley added leaning her head back with a wheezy chuckle. "Such a stupid yet awesome attack." Kaidan happily nodded while wiping the tears from his eyes, holding his stomach and despite his pale look, Richard was in the same state as Kaidan.

"C-Commander, if you have to do such stupid stunts to defeat these machines, I say keep them coming," Tali added with a small giggle, making Shepard smile a little more than before.

"Well I'm glad you guys enjoyed my reckless stunt. Stick with me and I know you guys will see many more," Shepard said before driving the Mako again, feeling somewhat happy that this little battle had bought his team together for just a moment.

The team continued to drive through the dangerous terrain of Therum, blasting away any Geth that had come past them until they finally were forced to leave the Mako due to coming upon a narrow cavern that the Mako couldn't go through.

"Alright guys…Keep it steady. Watch each other's backs. We don't know what is around the corner." Shepard murmured to his team, his pistol out and ready for firing. "I've got a bad feeling about this." Kaidan murmured softly, his eyes looking towards the ruins that were nearby only to blink when he saw something large scurrying up a wall.

"A really bad feeling."

"I'm sure it won't be as bad as those three Colossi we fought in the Mako or anything we fought just to open the gate to get to this point." Richard said with a bright smile which then melted away when a bullet grazed his helmet. "Scatter!" Shepard commanded while dodging behind a rock, finding himself right next to Wrex.

"I have to say Shepard, you sure know how to choose a mission," Wrex said while standing up from behind the rock and firing his shotgun, shattering the chest of a Geth that was trying to sneak towards their location.

"Yeah, I'm so lucky," Shepard replied with a sarcastic drawl as he leaned up behind the rock and shot another Geth who had left cover right in the "eye", making it fall backwards before the two leaped over the rock and dashed forward, both firing their respective weapons at oncoming Geth then sliding against another rock and waited for a moment then peered from behind it to find that there were no more Geth there.

"Area secured..." Shepard heard Garrus say through his commlink, making him sigh in relief and stand up from his hiding spot and quickly look placed his pistol back in its spot on his lower back and ushered his team together before placing his two fingers to the side of his helmet and asked "Joker, how close are we towards those unusual readings?"

"Jeez Commander, way to give a guy a heart attack. You're pretty close to the readings actually. They're right where those ruins are," Joker said, causing Shepard to imagine the pilot rubbing his chest in surprise which in turn caused Shepard to grin a bit.

With a nod, Shepard turned to his team and said to them "Alright. We don't know what's waiting for us in that ruin which is why I'm having you Ashley, working with Garrus and Richard on sniper duty on top of this rock formation next to us. Kaidan, Tali, Wrex, you three with me."

Ashley and Garrus shared a look of disdain to each other but nodded and walk away, with Richard trailing behind him but then he stopped to turn to Shepard to chirp out "I'll make sure they don't kill each other for you Commander." Shepard nodded and looked towards the ruins and closed his eyes, a brief vision of an Asari with dull blue eyes in a green and white uniform, hovering in a blue energy orb while weakly asking for help appearing in his head.

_'Hold on Liara…We're coming…'_ Shepard thought with a fierce look in his eyes.

* * *

Rain: And with that, we end this chapter. Now, The next chapter will deal with the rescue as well as a battle with the Geth and the Krogan warlord that's working with Saren. I personally love the Therum mission and hope you guys will as well. Until then…

Mario: See you next time.


End file.
